What I Go To School For
by LabyrinthDavidBowieWildcats32
Summary: School life for Gabriella was perfect until a certain Mr Bolton came along. Can she fight her feelings for him or will things go deeper.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **GABI POV**

"So I'd like to make an announcement, as you all know Mrs Hill left last year so now I'd like to introduce you to our new head of RE, Mr Bolton" The headmaster boomed into the microphone, to the packed auditorium full of girls.

"He better be cute!" Sharpay whispered into my ear causing me to roll my eyes, typical Shar.

Mr Bolton took a step onto the stage causing every girl to gasp, even me.

He was perfect. His hair slightly tousled but not too messy, even from the middle of the hall I could see the piercing blue eyes, his suit fit his toned body perfectly.

"So hi girls, as you know I'll be replacing Mrs Hill in the RE department and I'll also run help clubs every Thursday lunch time along with Miss Bell if anyone needs any help, I've met some of you already and I can't wait to start teaching" He said with a slight smile before taking a step away from the microphone, Mr Bartlett started rambling on about one of his usual rants about, well I don't know...

I sighed to myself, the trouble with going to an only girls school was now every girl would do whatever they could to get this Mr Boltons attention, I could see the desire in their eyes, pathetic. Though I must admit he wasn't bad looking at all. Stop it Gabriella I thought to myself, he's probably married with kids, you're just starting to sound like all these other girls. I glanced at Sharpay who was slowing licking her lips and slightly headslapped her.

"Gabi, what was that for!" Shar whined causing Mr Addams to glare at us warningly.

"Stop drooling over him, he's probably married!" I whispered furiously.

"Oh relax Gabs, there's no ring on his finger, gosh you're no fun anymore".

I just pouted acting hurt at Shar, until she whispered "I didn't mean it Gabs"

"Oh I know" I said smirking at her.

Once the assembly finished we hurried back to homeroom to collect our timetables and to settle down into the new term. Being the fastest to hurry out of assembly we were also the first in homeroom, so we grabbed the only row of 5 at the back for Me, Shar, Tay, Kels and Martha, my four bestest friends ever not including the boys who went to a separate school, sometimes I missed them but honestly I loved spending time with my girls.

Once everyone else piled into the room Ms Darbus began one of her long speeches on the theatre and arts, or whatever she liked talking about, I never really paid any attention at all to what she said.

"So here are your timetables for this year, our last year all together before you all desert me to lead those very important roles in the lives you will change and to face those very difficult challenges that you must overcome" Ms Darbus over dramatically announced, though I do admit I will miss her when we're gone.

I glanced out of the window next to my seat to see Mr Bolton with his new year 7 tutor group, wow unlucky him year 7s were the absolute worst, they were cocky, childish and just completely annoying, ugh and then the year 8s don't even get me started on them, just because you're a year 8 doesn't mean-

Sharpay interrupted my thoughts "Gabs, Gabs Gabs are you there"?

"Huh oh right yeah I uhm-" I muttered.

"Zoned out, Gabs read your timetable!" Sharpay squealed excitedly.

"Okay" I replied glancing through it.

"Maths Mrs Hurlow,"

"Woo me too" Sharpay clapped.

"English Ms Darbus"

"Yay"

"RE Mr Bolton" I said slightly thrilled, something about him intrigued me but I couldn't quite put my finger on it..

"Dammit, Mr Gunn oh well still a hottie" She replied winking.

The rest of the conversation was pretty much reading out timetables in our little group discussing what lessons we had together, only Tay had RE with me which was a shame really, RE could be so boring sometimes.

The rest of the week went pretty quickly until it got to Friday, the day I had RE..

As Tay and I walked into the class everyone else had already taken a seat.

"Sorry we're late, Mr Blair let us out reaaaaally late" I apologised feeling bad already.

"Its fine" He replied not breaking eye contact, wow his eyes were so blue and well perfect.

Tay and I quickly slipped to the last two seats at the back of the room.

This should be an interesting lesson.

A/ N The credit for this story goes to FangirlingForLife.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **TROY POV**

Ugh finally it was Friday, the first week had gone better than expected, my colleagues were nice the school was just like a giant family. Even if I was stuck with a year 7 form.

I sighed as I glanced at the year 11 RE class I was teaching, none of them really seemed thrilled at learning about John Hicks and the eschatological verification, but really who was? It was only about 5 minutes into the lesson and the girls were reading from their textbooks, so I decided to do the register.

"Jessie"

"Here"

-A Few People Later-

"Taylor?" I said with no answer

"She should be here today" Said one of the girls.

"Gabriella?" I said with no answer.

"She should be here too" Said the same girl.

Suddenly a latina girl and her friend burst into the room.

"Sorry we're late, Mr Blair let us out reaaaaally late" She apologised.

"Its fine" I replied not breaking eye contact, wow she was pretty, ugh I shouldn't be thinking that.

They slipped to the back of the room and I continued with the register.

"So anyone heard of the eschatological verification before this lesson?" I said glancing at all their blank faces, until the same latina girl put her hand up.

"I have, its actually quite interesting It refers to the idea that when we die we will be able to prove whether God exists or not. Either the atheist will be proven correct or the theist. The theist cannot be exactly proven wrong because if he is wrong they will be both ceasing to exist." She said quite nervously.

"Typical swotty fucking Gabriella" I heard a girl mutter to herself and eyerolled mentally ignoring her.

"That's right" I said giving Gabriella a slight smile before getting back to explaining more on John Hicks.

At the end of the class we're were all laughing, the first real lesson I actually enjoyed teaching.

"So everybody remember homework for next week, if anyone needs any help I'm always in the staff room even after school, so go get out of here now" I said with a smile.

"Tro- Mr Bolton, I don't really understand the homework could you help me out tonight after school?" My younger cousin Ellie said, we'd both agreed not to tell anyone we were related, I didn't want anyone thinking I would treat her differently just because we were cousins, actually more than cousins we were good friends.

"That's fine Ellie, library at 4 sound good?" I said trying not to call her Smelly, like our usual old nicknames.

"Sounds good Mr Bolton" She said grinning, man this was so weird.

 **Gabriella POV**

Ugh I could see Ellie flirting with Mr Bolton, already?! I mean come on it was only just our first lesson with him and the way he was smiling at her, did he not know it was illegal to date a student. Typical men I thought before going off on a rant in my head.

"Gabs, PE now" Sharpay yelled in my face, I really needed to stop zoning out.

"Greaaat," I moaned sarcastically back.

"So how was RE with mr cutiepants?" She said wiggling her eyebrows.

"It was interesting, he's actually a good teacher, not just for his looks," I said not realising the man we were talking about was stood about 30cm behind me.

"Well it's nice that you think I'm a good teacher Gabriella" He said smirking, damn it.

"Uh Gabriella, time to get changed for pe" Sharpay giggled before dragging me off, still completely awestruck.

Once we were in the changing rooms I started laughing again along with Sharpay.

"Oh my fucking gosh that was so awkward" Sharpay laughed.

"It wasn't even that funny" I said groaning before getting changed.

"It really was" Sharpay replied before I threw my shoes at her unsuccessfully.

Once we were changed we made our way onto the tennis courts right in the middle of our school.

"So today I want you to just practice rallying in partners" Mrs Styles said.

"Gabs with me" Sharpay demanded pulling me to our court.

"I still can't believe what happened earlier" Sharpay laughed at me.

"Hey just let it go" I said hitting the ball to her, for a girl who moaned like hell about PE, when she actually tried she was good.

For the next 20 minutes we were just rallying, that was before I noticed a certain Mr Bolton crossing the tennis courts to get to the main building. Shar had also noticed judging my the wink she gave me. Just as Mr Bolton was walking towards us I hit the ball to her and she missed purposely, the ball dropped right at his feet.

"Sorry Mr Bolton, I'm awful at tennis" She lied, I glared straight at her.

"Mind if I have a go?" He asked.

"Sure go ahead" She smiled.

Shit.

He served first. His hit was perfect, fortunately I wasn't in one of my zoning out moments and returned it. The rally continued until it went to second bounce, 15-love to him.

"Full game?" He asked smiling.

"Your on" I replied laughing, realising I wasn't nervous at all and he was a lot nicer than he made himself out to be in lessons.

The game continued until it was deuce, everyone was now watching us intently and cheering me on, even Mrs Styles.

He served and I returned with all the strength I had in me, he hit it back and got it out. YES! I thought in my head, I actually had a chance at doing something well in sports. I was never really sporty although I did love athletics and fitness training.

He raised his racket up and served again with force, this was getting heated up now. Everyone still cheering my name I managed to return it, I had to win this. The ball dropped in front of him and he moaned fakely and everyone cheered for me.

"Well played Gabriella" He said sincerely.

"That was fun" I replied still in awe that I had actually won. Had this really all just happened?!

"See you in RE" He said before walking off, before I could reply he'd already gone.

"Gabs that was amazing" Tay said hugging me.

"I actually cannot believe that just happened" Shar said as if she'd read my thoughts, I elbowed her in the ribs.

"Hey what was that for?" She moaned rubbing her side.

"For lying, you're totally good at tennis you bullshitter" I said laughing.

The lesson ended and we went back to the changing rooms. I glanced at myself in the mirror sighing. I had very little make up on and my hair was pulled back messily in a pony tail, man I looked like shit.

Once we were changed we did our makeup and made our way back to homeroom ready for lunch. When we were in homeroom we began eating. Ellie then approached us, her and Sharpay were really good friends though that didn't really surprise me, Shar was friends with everyone. Ellie and I had never really spoken much, she was popular, pretty and smart and well I wasn't.

"That was so cool the way you played tennis with Mr Bolton Gabs" She said, 'Gabs', did she really just call me Gabs was she for real, probably just jealous I got to play with Mr Bolton, I'd heard her talking about him earlier in the week.

"Uhm thanks" I said cooly.

"Mind if I talk to you alone for a second" She asked sweetly.

"Sure I guess" I said standing up and walking away from my group. "So what d'you want"?

"Your really close friends with Jason Cross aren't you?"

"Yeah, we're practically brother and sister why"?

"Well I see him every morning and he seems really nice, do you mind mentioning me to him?" she said politely. What a slut, first flirting with Mr Bolton now asking me to try and set her up with Jason, wow she really was a slut.

"Sure" I smiled pathetically at her. Ha like I was going to.

"Thanks so much, I honestly like him a lot, we get on so well" She smiled dreamily.

"Uhm I should get back now" I quickly rushed off

"Thank you" She called before turning away to her own group.

After that I joined my girls and sat gossiping with them all through lunch, they were all discussing their boyfriends, so typical that I didn't have one when they did. Shar was with Zeke they'd actually been together for 2 years, Taylor was with Chad who were actually pretty perfect for each other, Ryan and Kels were together which was so cute Kelsi deserved someone as kind as Ryan and Martha was with Kevin, who never really hung around with our group but he was decent enough.

The rest of the afternoon had gone pretty slow until I got back to homeroom to see Shar panicking.

"Gabs thank God you're here!" She practically pounced on me as I walked through the door.

"Whats wrong?" I said patting her on the back awkwardly.

"Well uh Miss Bennett wanted my geography essay in today after school and when I went to look for it on my memory stick I had the half finished version and Tony my chauffeur is off on holiday and my mum and dad are away so I can't get them to drop me off, I don't wanna go back home cause Ryan will be with Kelsi and if I don't get this essay in she might fail me!" Shar yelled at me.

"How long does it have to be?" I asked calmly.

"7 pages, I only have like 5 and you know how strict she is" Shar sighed, I felt sorry for Shar, just because she was blonde and very into fashion people assumed she was dumb, people like Miss Bennett who judged easily.

"Well we can use the computer in here to finish it off and then print it out in the library, then we'll go give it to her and then go to yours okay?" I said smiling sweetly, trying to comfort Shar.

By the time we'd finished off Shars essay it was only about 4:30 and I must say we did a pretty good job of it too. Shar handed it in to Miss Bennett who had actually seemed impressed by it, giving Shar the boost of confidence she needed, although Shar seemed very mouthy and outgoing, inside she was actually lacking a lot of confidence.

We walked out with Miss Bennett who had actually started a conversation with us, she didn't seem to bad honestly. She stopped at her car and we said our goodbyes. Shar and I continued walking past school on the way to her house. Just as we turned the corner I stopped dead in my tracks, Mr Bolton and that little slut Ellie getting into his car, unfuckingbelievable. Like I was going to mention her to Jason now. She had some fucking nerve. The rest of the way to Shars I was pretty quiet, not that Shar had stopped talking long enough to notice, or maybe she had noticed and was trying to comfort me she was good like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **GABRIELLA POV**

A few weeks had passed and I hadn't so much given Mr Bolton another glance in RE, not that he would care anyway. I hadn't really forgot the whole Ellie and Mr Bolton incident at all, I wasn't even sure why I was so bothered, I'd seen them around together talking, laughing and practically flirting with each other.

I was in the middle of my English essay when there was a knock on my bedroom door.

"Go away mum!" I groaned not wanting to talk to anyone, I'd been in a real shitty mood.

"Hey don't call me mum!" Jason laughed as he walked in, I immediately got up and gave him a huge hug.

"I haven't seen you in weeks, why did you have to go to Barcelona!" I moaned still hugging him.

"What can I say, my football team needed me" He laughed again.

"Well don't go ever again!" I said truthfully, I'd missed him so much he was the only one who really understood me, we'd been like brother and sister since nursery. Everyone had always thought Jason was dumb, but they never really got to know him as well as I did which was a shame for everyone.

"Whats up, your mum said you've been upset ever since you came home from Shar's on sunday" He said his tone was serious now.

"Not even I know Jay, lets not worry about me how are you?"I said trying to distract him.

"You know I'll find out one way or another Gabs" He said tickling me causing me to giggle like an idiot, when he stopped he carried on talking "But anyway I'm good, actually I wanted to tell you something"

"Go ahead" I replied taking a seat on my bed.

"Well uh you know Ellie, pretty blonde in your homeroom?" He asked nervously.

"Yes I do know her" I said my tone going rather too vicious.

"Well I was uhm thinking of asking her out, she seems nice and everyone says she seems to like me" He said oblivious of my feelings towards her.

I could feel the rage boiling up inside me "Don't do it Jay, she's a dirty little slut and she'd just use you to cover up her dirty little secret" I said shocking even myself let alone Jason.

"Whoah, where'd that come from?!" Jason asked laughing nervously.

"Shes fucking dating my RE teacher" I almost yelled, I could see the pain in Jasons face and I'd already regretted everything I said but he deserved to know the truth.

"I I better go, bye Gabriella" He replied before rushing out of the room.

Fuck sake I thought before lying into my pillows and crying until eventually I fell asleep.

The next morning my alarm woke me up, followed by my mums boyfriend Mark yelling at me to wake up.

I groaned before getting ready to school, friday. Great.

 **TROY POV**

I was actually quite excited to teach my year 11s today, they were fun and some actually wanted to learn about RE. Though the latina girl who had made a huge impression on me the first couple of lessons had suddenly gone quiet, everytime I looked at her she would look away as if she was ashamed or hurt, I shrugged it off why would she think of me like that. The past couple of weeks my mind had been wandering to the tennis match we had played together, I wasn't even going to deny that that wasn't fun. Unlike most year 11 girls she didn't really care that she was playing against me, she just went for it and didn't fake herself up around me. I found myself starting to like her the more I thought about her, man I should not be thinking this.

As my year 11 class came in I glanced over at Ellie, I found myself worried when she had tear marks all down her face.

"Uh Ellie can I have a word with you outside about the homework you gave in?" I lied covering for us both.

"Yeah sure" She sniffed, as she got up I glanced at the class and said "Girls turn to page 102 in your textbooks and answer questions 1,2 and 3.

"Els whats up?" I said as we were finally out of the room.

"well uh the other day I was gonna ask Jason out, the boy I really like and when I went up to talk to him he just ignored me and he won't answer my texts, calls and he just ignores me now" Ellie said sobbing harder as I pulled her close.

"Hey, hey its gonna be alright" I said comforting her as best as I could, "tonight after school point him out to me when your bus comes, I'll drive you home okay"?

She nodded before wiping her tears and walking back inside.

 **GABRIELLA POV**

I watched as Ellie and Mr Bolton walked back into the room, I guessed how she was crying, I'd heard how Jason had treated her a pang of guilt rushed through me until I glanced back to Mr Bolton who was looking at Ellie, ugh.

The rest of the lesson was pretty boring, all the girls were trying to guess Mr Boltons name which was pretty obvious in the end, the clues he gave us clearly pointed to Troy but no one else seemed to get it. I sighed. What was all this fascination with him anyway?!

"Gabs, PE time" Shar yelled again, it seemed like the same thing over again. Only this time Mr Bolton just ignored us all as he walked across the tennis courts, probably just because his little school girl wasn't there.

A few boring lessons later

I was so glad it was the end of the day, finally I could go home (well to Shars, it had become a tradition for me, Tay, Martha, Kels and the guys to stay there whenever her parents were away which was practically all the time).

I was making my way over to the bus to meet Jason when I saw him walking away with Ellie and Mr Bolton, what the fuck was going on?!

"Jason, we need to get to Shars!" I yelled across at him, the three of them glanced at me, he raised a finger up signalling gimme a minute, I sighed impatiently.

A few minutes later he and Ellie walked out smiling hand in hand, he walked over to me.

"Whats going on?!" I demanded glaring at him.

He and Ellie just laughed at me.

"Theres been a slight misunderstanding" Ellie said chuckling softly.

TROYS POV

"Jason Cross can I please have a word with you?" I asked strictly as soon as he had stepped off of the bus.

"Uh whats going on?" He asked as he glanced down at Ellie, sadness filled his eyes.

"Jason, we need to get to Shars!" Gabriella yelled across at him, we all glanced back at her, Jason raised a finger up at her signalling gimme a minute, she looked irritated, whoops.

"So whats this about?" Jason asked nervously.

"Why have you been ignoring me?" Ellie sniffed.

"I thought you actually liked me, yano you sure made it seem like it and then you go and sleep with your RE teacher, what the fuck is that all about?" He said almost crying.

Ellie and I glanced at each other before bursting into laughter.

"Wh- Whats so funny?" He asked nervously.

"Mr Bolton here is my RE teacher yes, but he is also my cousin, more like a brother actually" She said smiling.

"So that means your single?" Jasons eyes lit up.

"Yeah, yeah I am" Jason and Ellie smiled before holding hands.

"Bye smelly" I said ruffling her hair, I walked away laughing to myself who could possibly think I was dating Ellie, how ridiculous.

Gabriella POV

"Why what's going on?" I asked angrily, I really didn't want to be late to Shars.

"Ellie and Mr Bolton were just explaining how they were cousins and how they weren't dating" Jason said laughing along with Ellie.

"Where could someone even get that idea?"Ellie snorted, Jason just looked at me and I glared at him.

"No idea" He said smiling at me, for the first time in weeks I felt myself relax.

"So could you tell Shar I'm so sorry but I can't make it tonight, I'll be out tomorrow though I'll be at the beach with El" He smiled.

"You're all welcome to come, its just gonna be my family there it'll be pretty boring so the more the merrier" Ellie smiled genuinely at me.

"Okay, we'd love to I'll see you tomorrow" I said before turning to leave, Ellie grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug.

"I know you got the wrong idea between me and Troy, you know he actually hasn't stopped talking about you and your little rounders match" she whispered into my ear before releasing me and smiling.

"Bye guys" I said smiling to myself as I walked off. Wow.

The rest of the night had gone quickly, I actually began enjoying myself and by the end of the night I was fully back to myself and everyone had realised.

"Gabs its nice to see you back to being Gabi, no offence but you've been pretty dull to hang around with" Chad laughed putting his arm around me.

"I know I've even been boring myself" I laughed as I took a swig from my vodka bottle.

HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM

The next morning I woke up at around 11, no one else was awake except Shar who was already dressed.

"Shar what are you doing awake?" I asked padding down her huge stair case into her kitchen.

"Couldn't sleep I guess, anyway we're going to the beach today right?" She asked.

"Yeah why?"

"Well theres cute guys at the beach, and I know a certain Gabriella is single at the moment!" She said causing me to groan.

"Yeah so?" I asked knowing what was coming next.

"Makeover time!" She squealed practically waking everyone else up upstairs.

We made our way to her walk in wardrobe through her bedroom, everyone else had now woken up and were all getting ready.

"So we're basically the same size right?" She asked.

"Size 8 yeah (Size 2 in America)" I replied.

She picked out a cute red bikini for me and then commented "It really shows off your curves in all the right places, if you don't wear it I'll cry" she pouted so I turned away from her and put it on. Over the top I wore high waisted shorts and my favourite rolling stones crop top, showing off my stomach a bit. I tied my hair into a messy bun and only put natural makeup on.

My group made our way down to the beach around 12ish, Ellies family had already set up a barbecue, Ellie and Jason were no where to be seen, but oh a shirtless Mr Bolton was.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **TROY POV**

I glanced around at a load of new faces joining my family gathering, mostly girls from my school and a couple of boys I recognized from my bus duty, I looked around at the unknown faces until my eyes locked to my favourite Latina's, Gabriella.

"Hello Mr Bolton," She said almost shyly.

"Call me Troy when we're away from school" I said to everyone, but in my mind just to Gabriella.

"Hi Troy" The rest all chorused before introducing themselves to me.

"I'm Sharpay and this is my boyfriend Zeke Baylor, you've probably heard of me I'm the Drama Captain of Huberts House, what house are you in?" Sharpay said dramatically.

"Uh Stephen House, shame they're not named after the Harry Potter Houses, much much more memorable" I said causing the others all to laugh, especially Gabriella. The Harry Potter series had to be my favourite set of books and movies of all time.

The rest of my family came over and we were all introduced, by lunch time the food was cooking and each couple were happily lying together talking and laughing, doing all the coupley shit I wasn't really in to. Zeke and Sharpay were the definition of couple, neither leaving each others side the whole time we'd been there. Chad and Taylor were play fighting over something silly, Kelsi and Ryan were simply just cuddling, Jason and Ellie both sunbathing, I was happy that my little Smelly was finally happy and then there was Gabriella, happily reading alone though a little loneliness in her eyes.

"Hey, what you reading?" I asked softly taking a seat next to her startling her a little, everyone else had seemed to have forgotten about her.

"Oh The Great Gatsby, one of my favourites, read it at least 6 times now" She said giggling softly to herself as if she had her own inside joke.

"I've always wanted to read it, never had the chance with teaching and all that" I smiled at her, our faces only centimeters apart, her smell was intoxicating.

"Here take my copy, its slightly old but my Grandma gave it to me when I was 7" She said smiling and handing me the book, her smile was contagious.

"Are you sure?" I asked cautiously.

"Positive" She replied.

"So do you not have a boyfriend like your other friends?" I said glancing at the rest of her friends.

"No never had time for one really, I'm not really into the coupley stuff" She said sighing to herself.

"Ugh and don't even get me started on kids" I replied making her smile again, I loved to see her smile.

"I know, babies I can deal with but anything between the ages of 2-13 I cannot deal with" She laughed, I really liked this girl.

Before I knew it our conversation came to an end as the food was ready, sitting with my annoying older sister Annie as Gabriella went off to sit with her friends. The next thing I knew, I glanced up at Gabriella on the phone crying I immediately crowded round her amongst her friends.

"Whats wrong?"I whispered to her friend Taylor, the girl she usually sat next to in my class.

"Her Grandpa's been taken ill, theres nothing they can do for him now so he's being sent home to uhm you know" Taylor said stuttering slightly, I knew exactly. My stomach felt uneasy as I saw Sharpay cuddling her, I knew exactly.

"I need to get home" Gabriella said between tears.

"I'll drive you" I piped up shocking even myself.

"You really don't have to Mr Bolton" She said drying her eyes.

"I insist" I said making her smile gently.

She got her stuff together and said her goodbyes to her friends before we walked to my car, which was only a few roads away.

"You know, I'm really sorry to hear about your Grandpa" I said as soothingly as I could.

"I'm sick of everyone saying that" She said harshly before apologizing.

"I've been in the same situation, except with my Nana" I sighed thinking back to my younger days.

"I'm sorry to hear that" She said grabbing my hand and squeezing it unaware of her actions.

"It's fine, it'll get better with time"I replied relishing the feel of her hand in mine, we were silent until we got to my car.

As I drove her back to her house she pointed out the directions, the rest of the drive was silent. Suddenly we pulled up outside her perfect little house, it was beautiful.

"Well thanks for the lift Mr uhm Troy" She mumbled blushing.

"It's fine Miss Gabriella" I laughed gently before squeezing her hand as she got out.

"Remember, if you ever need someone to talk to around school I'm always in the staff room" I said gently before watching her enter her house, I sat there for a minute gazing aimlessly before driving back to the beach where the others were waiting. I really hoped she was going to be okay, I really did.

HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM

 **Gabriella POV**

A few weeks had passed since I had had the news of my Grandpa, for now he was still alive but suffering, I was just grateful I had the chance to see him once more.

"Here's my little ray of sunshine" My grandpa said the same way he had for the last 15 years.

"Hello Grandpa" I said weakly.

The rest of our conversation was light, mostly about past memories and all of it brang happiness to me of what I could remember of it. My Grandpa was always such a happy man, never had I seen him say a bad word about anyone and I had never met anyone who had a bad word to say about him. I would always cherish those past 15, almost 16, years I had spent with him. Although I knew he was in a great deal of pain I could see how hard he was trying for me, to show me he was fine, though inside I knew it was killing him and for that I was eternally grateful for someone as amazing as him in my life.

Which is why when he passed away, my heart was completely broken. It was only a few weeks after I had spent my last time with my Grandpa seeing as he lived a good 4 hours away. The next day I had some stupid school trip which I had been forced into going by my mum, in some ways I could see why she did it.

The next day I got up, remembering I had an own clothes day I threw on whatever I could find, tied my hair up loosely and left the house without the tiniest bit of makeup on. As I got to school the girls already guessed what was wrong and were right by my side, I really did love them sometimes. Before long we were all in the hall in Homeroom groups ready for our trip up to Dover castle, honestly it was quite a pathetic trip for year 11s, seeing as I lived in Dover but whatever I guess.

I caught Mr Boltons eye from across the hall as Mrs Bellton gave us a talk about the safety rules and uh whatever, I don't think any of us were really paying much attention. As we lined up in Homeroom groups we were assigned our teachers for each group. 11a had Mrs Bellton, 11b had Mrs Stanson, 11c had Mrs Hall and 11d (my form) had Mr Bolton, just what I needed today, not.

We all got into register order before separating into two's. 5 was an awkward number for my group, it was hard going into groups of 2's because one of us would always have to be left out. Shar, Tay, Kelsi and Martha all wanted to go with me to cheer me up but I wouldn't let any of them, instead Ellie came up to me and asked politely "Can I walk up with you?" I nodded without saying a word to her, smiling softly at the girls letting them know I'd be fine.

Ellie and I stood at the back as far as possible away from any of our best friends, time for the heart to heart I really needed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It was only a 10 minute walk up to the Castle. But in 10 minutes there could be a lot to talk about as I found out that day.

"Everythings gonna be alright Gabs, I promise" Ellie said soothingly passing me a tissue to wipe my eyes.

"How do you know?" I whimpered back taking the tissue.

"Because I've been in your situation before, 5 years ago my great Nana died and uh we were always close, she even brought me and Troy closer together, I've never met anyone as loving and gentle as her, and life without her was empty those first weeks she was gone but it gets better as time goes on trust me" She said, I instantly trusted her seeing the genuine sincerity in her eyes and voice.

"You know she even encouraged Troy into teaching, it suits him even if he hates younger kids an RE secondary school teacher suits him" She went on.

"He really likes you yano, you're like top of the class you teachers pet" she said winking causing me to stop crying and to start smiling.

"So tell me about Troy, if you don't mind" I asked a bit nervously but curious.

"Well he's 23, lives on his own, hates kids, obsessed with Harry Potter, surprisingly amazing at sports, single last time I checked, he's a huge goofball at times under all of that layer of pessimistic and cynicalness" Ellie laughed at her words, my breath hitched at the single part for a moment before I pulled myself together.

"I've only ever seen one of the Harry Potter movies" I said laughing.

"Oooh don't EVER tell him that, he will honestly cry" She replied jokingly.

"So you looking forward to sports day tomorrow?" I grimaced at the thought of it.

"I guess, not taking part in anything but damn those sixth form boys are pretty fine" She winked before adding "Jase stares at other girls all the time" she said giggling.

"Hows it going with you two anyway?"

"Its good, really good he's sweet, caring, hot and everything a girl could want" She said smiling dreamily, we really were starting to get along.

"So Gabs, anyone you like?" She asked raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"No, no no no not at all" I said a little too defensively.

"Oh please whats his name I want details" She asked playfully.

"Whats this I hear about a boy?" Troy asked curiously catching up behind us.

"Gabs has a crush but won't tell me anything about it" Ellie fake pouted, she was so like Sharpay in some ways.

"Ah come on Gabriella, don't wanna see my Smelly pout like that" Troy joked around smiling at me.

The banter went on though I still refused to tell them, I didn't have a crush well not really I guess, once we got to the castle Troy morphed into strict teacher mode and led us up to the top of the castle, looking out onto the beautiful view.

"Girls grab a partner, heres a worksheet for you to fill in and I want you to stay with your partner all day, huge castle and your parents and teachers won't appreciate it if I don't get you back in one piece" Troy said half joking half strict.

"Wow it looks so beautiful up here" I commented looking over the castle wall on to a very sunny Dover.

"It does" Troy said glancing at me, though I was too focused on the view to notice what he was really staring at.

As we went back down to the castle grounds Troy announced everyone was free to wander around, so everyone split up leaving me and Ellie to walk around, once we were alone I glanced at my phone noticing I had a message.

DAD:

Hope you're doing okay sweetie, done with Grandma to make sure she's okay. Won't see you until next week.

Sorry hun xx

I sighed. Typical that I wouldn't see my dad, after he moved away with his girlfriend I never got to spend any time with him. I could feel the tears rushing down my cheeks as I read the message again, Ellie quickly rushed over to me and gave me a huge hug.

"Lets go and find Troy, you really shouldn't be here Gabs" Ellie comforted me as we walked around trying to find Troy "Typical we can't find him straight away when we need him" She said making me giggle through sobs until eventually we found him sitting on his own reading something from the information sheet.

"Is everything alright Gabriella?" Troy asked full of concern as we approached him.

"I think you should talk to her" Ellie said before giving us some space and walking off in search for others.

"So whats wrong?" Troy said taking a seat behind a wall so no one could see us.

"My, My Grandpa died yesterday" I sobbed into my sleeve.

"Hey hey its okay, everything is gonna be okay" He promised pulling me into a hug, I know it was wrong but it felt nice to have his arms around me.

I just continued to sob as we sat embracing as he whispered comforting words into my ears.

"Thank you for being so nice to me," I whispered finally wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Its my job, I'll always be here for you Gabriella" He whispered back, the heat of his breath tickling the skin on my neck causing goosebumps to erupt all over my skin.

I don't really remember how any of it happened but suddenly his lips were on mine and his hands were resting on my hips, he broke away first.

"I uhm I'm sorry," I stuttered not knowing what else to say, he ran his hands through his hair and sighed muttering to himself, I could tell it was a huge mistake so I quickly got up and walked away crying not wanting to look back.

"Do you know where Miss Simon is?" I asked the nearest person I could find, it being Ellie of course.

"Yeah shes over there, are you okay Gabs?" She asked softly.

"Not, not really" I stammered before making my way over to Miss Simon.

"I have to go home" I said shyly.

"I know, Mr Bolton just told me your situation, I phoned the school and they phoned your Mum, she'll be here in 20 minutes Mr Bolton will wait with you" She said smiling gently and then looking towards Mr Bolton.

"Uhm lets go?" Mr Bolton said awkwardly, I just nodded the rest of the walk was silent and very very awkward.

"So about earlier, I can see it was a huge mistake to you and I'm sorry let's just move past it and forget it ever happened?"I suggested breaking the silence, still knowing it would hard to forget.

"What if I don't want to move past it?" He asked daringly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The next day I woke up feeling slightly better, taking more time to get ready, wearing more makeup and actually feeling good about the day ahead of me not really knowing why.

"Mum, do you think you could write me a note out of Sports today?" I asked sweetly batting my eyelashes at her.

"Sure" She said before writing it out, usually it took more than that.

"I love you Mummy" I said almost sounding like 5 year old me, she pulled me into a huge hug and left for work, meaning I had to leave for school.

As soon as I got to homeroom Sharpay launched herself at me giving me a huge hug.

"I missed you so much yesterday what happened to you?!" She yelled into my ear causing me to pull back.

"I just had to get away, I'm so much better now though" I said almost seeing Ellie smile knowingly at me, I just mentally shook my head and let it go she couldn't possibly know.

"Anyways come on we have like 15 minutes to get changed for Sports day and to sort our hair and makeup out" She said so matter of factly, I wasn't even going to bother to argue with her so I went with her.

After watching Shar re do her hair and makeup I finally changed into my PE kit; a white polo shirt, very short blue gym shorts (the ones that Shar and I bought as there was no way we were gonna wear the ridiculously ugly long ones) and my blue nike blazers which I practically lived in.

Finally we were up at the sports field and everyone was setting up, all students had to sit in their houses (Hubert, Stephen, Martin and Ethel) though after about an hour everyone ended up anywhere. Kelsi, Ellie and I took a seat on the grass.

"Daaaamn those sixth form boys look good!" Ellie muttered to herself before added "None as good as my Jaseybear though".

"Jaseybear?" I asked laughing and raising my eyebrows at Kelsi.

"Ooh that reminds me I better go find that cousin of mine, back in a minute!" Ellie said excitedly running off.

"I really need to go to the toilet, you'll be okay for a moment won't you?" Kelsi asked, I just nodded my head and sat alone playing with my nails.

"So Gabi you're free Saturday right?" Ellie asked bringing me out of my daydream.

"Yeah why?"

"Well they're doing a couples night at Shar's lava springs club and we should all go".

"Yeah I'd love to, but I'm single" I sighed.

"Ah but I have a friend for you, here's his number you should text him" She said handing me a piece of paper with his number on.

"Like a blind date?" I asked sighing.

"Well yeah I guess" She replied excitedly.

"Okay fine" I said putting the piece of paper into my bag.

"Youuuuu could text him now" She winked.

"Ugh fine" I said pulling out the number and typing it into my phone.

"So what are you gonna text first?" Ellie asked glancing at my phone curiously.

"Who's she texting?" Kelsi asked appearing in front of us.

"A friend for Saturday" Ellie nodded to Kelsi

"Ah so what're you gonna say?" They both asked intently.

"Uhm just Hi its Ellie's friend" I said plainly, Ellie and Kelsi grabbed my phone and began typing.

 **Me: Hey sugar its Ellie's friend;)**

I took my phone back and glared at them. "Really?" I asked still glaring.

"Better than what we put to begin with" They both giggled at me, I looked back at my phone and saw a new message.

 **?: Hey she said you'd text, how are you?**

 **Me: I'm doing good, you?**

 **?: I'm okay, so tell me about yourself..**

 **Me: What do you want to know?**

 **?: Whatever you want to tell me**

 **Me: Well you'll see what I look like Saturday, but filmwise I love any Leonardo DiCaprio film or Ryan Gosling film.**

 **?: Ah so you're a romantic type of girl**

 **Me: Not always, I absolutely love Harry Potter and Lord of the rings.**

 **?: Wow just my type of girl.**

 **Me: We'll just have to wait and see.**

"Gabi, Gabi are you even awake?" Ellie asked snapping my gaze away from my phone.

"Uh yeah huh I think so?" I said startled.

"You've been texting for ages now, liking this mystery man eh?" Kelsi and Ellie laughed.

"He's nice" I said smiling, as I looked up I caught Mr Boltons gaze he smiled softly at me, I could've just melted right there.

The rest of the morning went pretty quickly, I kept texting the 'mystery man', Sharpay flirting with every sixth form boy she could find, Kelsi and Ellie teasing me about texting and Tay and Martha off somewhere as they were with their siblings. Finally it was the last race which was a race between the teachers and sixth form. Miss Colson was at the front, then Miss Thomson, Mr Andrews and finally to Mr Bolton. At first the teachers were loosing until the very last moment near the end when Mr Bolton overtook the sixth form boy and won the race. Practically every girl stood up and cheered for Mr Bolton, dayum he was pretty fast and he looked amazing when he ran.

Finally it was announced that it was finally lunch time, the rest of my group and a couple of Ellies friends made their way over to me and Ellie and we all sat in a huge circle sunbathing.

"So Gabs after Saturday night how about you stay round mine with Jason and maybe this guy too?" Ellie asked.

"Oh sure, what about the others?"

"Shar, Kelsi, Ryan and Zeke will be helping out at Shars club, the rest all going out for drinks after to Qube and they didn't really think you'd want to go after last time" Ellie said smirking.

"Oh gosh they told you?" I blushed. Lets just say that Reece Goodman's sick does not come out of your favourite dress or shoes too easily.

"Yeah, but hey its fine it'll be much better at mine, think my parents are out"

"Okay"

"So hows it going with your mystery man?" Ellie asked curiously also pulling her phone out to text.

"Good, I like him he's nice" I said smiling and checking my phone.

 **?: You know Ellie's been telling me all about you**

 **Me: Great, high expectations to live up to**

 **?: I'll be very disappointed;)**

 **Me: Oh boy**

After a good lunchtime we now had to participate in our afternoon activities, Ellie and I had chosen Orienteering, it had seemed easy.

"So everyone doing orienteering make your way over to Mr Bolton by the gates so you can make your way up to the woods" Ms Darbus called out to our homegroup. I gave Shar and Kelsi a hug goodbye as they went off to practice in their drama group for Friday. Taylor and Martha also went off to do something about public speaking and mentoring, leaving just me and Ellie.

"Hey Mr Bolton" Ellie beamed as we approached him.

"Hey Trouble, hey Gabriella" He said awkwardly as he said my name, I just smiled quickly at him and turned away.

Once we made it up to the woods we were given instructions "So I want you to get into groups of two or three, use the maps and co ordinates we've given you to find the letters needed to make the sentences which you will have to try and guess, come back here once you're done and one of us will be here" Mr Andrews said before handing everyone a map and co ordinates each.

"Trooyyy" Ellie whined.

"What do you want?" He groaned.

"Well uh Gabriella has a note out of this, but instead of her not doing anything could you help us out?" She asked batting her eyelashes.

He groaned and glanced at me I shrugged. "Fine" He moaned again before we began walking.

I'll go and find the first one it should be around here, stay right here!" Ellie called before running off.

I took the time to glance at my phone

 **?: So what are your favourite films and books?**

 **Me: Favourite film has to be La Vita e Bella (Life is beautiful), and my favourite book is The Great Gatsby.**

 **?: Oh I've just finished reading that, quite enjoyed it but a bit too girly for me, my favourite film has to be Harry Potter and the half blooded Prince.**

 **Me: Ah so you're a Harry Potter fan, me too**

 **?: I always wanted to be Harry, I'd love to be a wizard.**

 **Me: I'm more of a Ron girl, always had a huge crush on Rupert Grint.**

 **?: Poor Harry, I did once have a bit of a boy crush on him.**

 **Me: Are you sure you don't need a man for this couples night?;)**

 **?: Well if you look like anything Ellie's told me then definitely not;)**

"Sorry for uh texting" I said looking away from my phone and at Troy who was always texting.

"Likewise" Troy mumbled blushing slightly.

"So who's the guy that can't seem to stop making you smile?" Troy asked suspiciously.

"Well I don't really know, its more of a blind date for Saturday" I said shyly.

"Have fun" Troy said smiling genuinely.

"I hope I will" I smiled back politely.

"I found the first one!" Ellie called to us from somewhere in the woods.

"The next ones close to it, keep looking!" Troy called back before turning to me "You think I should tell her I have the answers right here?" He asked grinning.

"Oh not yet" I replied laughing.

After a while Ellie was still gone, Troy and I had got quite bored so we began talking, we'd somehow gotten on to the topic of food, I'm not sure how but it wasn't the worst topic in the world.

"Mmm best food I've ever had is something my Grandma made, it was a 3 course meal and the starter was a salmon mousse with a hint of horse radish and garden salad, it was absolutely beautiful" I said moaning at the thought of it.

"Ah my favourite starter always has to be breaded mushrooms with a chili and herb dip, my Mum makes it whenever I visit her" Troy replied dribbling slightly.

"You're dribbling" I pointed out laughing, taking our a fresh tissue and wiping it away naturally.

"So whats your favourite main meal?" He asked laughing still.

"Definitely anything Italian, pizza has to be my favourite, especially from Pizza Express" I sighed thinking of pizza.

"Oh ofcourse I love their Pepperoni with extra cheese pizzas" Troy replied enthusiastically.

"Mmm, so whats your favourite dessert?"

"Probably cheesecake, I don't care how girly a toffee cheesecake is I love it!" Troy exclaimed happily.

"Ah mine has to be sherry trifle, my Grandma makes a delicious one!" I told Troy who was listening intently.

Finally after more conversation about practically everything Ellie made her way back over to us with all of the answers, Troy forgetting to tell her he had the answers there with him.

At least we still won.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Saturday~~

I only had an hour and a half to get ready and I already began to feel nervous, I still had no idea how to do my hair, my makeup or even what to wear. I'd already ransacked my wardrobe and discarded a million dresses.

"Mum!" I yelled probably a bit too loudly.

"Yeah?" She called back.

"I need your help getting ready" I said sounding nervous, the nervousness in my voice clearly helped as my Mum made her way up the stairs to my room.

"Gabriella your room is a mess!" She laughed as she took a seat on my crowded bed.

"I know, I know!" I said sighing and picking up dresses to put back in my wardrobe.

"So whats the problem?"

"I have no idea what to wear, how to do my hair or makeup"

"Any theme in particular?" She asked.

"Well its really a blind date, but he seems really nice so far" I sighed

"Honestly I think you'd look best in red, what red dresses do you have?"

"Uhm these" I said holding up 3 red dresses; one red strapless maxi dress, one dark red pleated dress and a brighter red bodycon dress; it was very simple but had a low dip at the back which looked great, as soon as I saw it both my mum and I knew which one I would pick.

"Shoes can go later, what should I do with my hair?"

"Definitely curly and in a bun" my mum said with a nod. So after 35 minutes of curling my hair it was almost done, I put it into my favourite style "of messy bun and fixed loose parts with any spare hair grips I could find, I pulled two pieces of my fringe out and let them hang loose.

"So what about your makeup?" My mum asked clearly enjoying this mother-daughter time we were spending, I never really spent much time with her anymore which I felt guilty about but she had her boyfriend Mark and he seemed to keep her happy.

"Gonna keep it quite natural, might watch one of Tanya Burr's makeup tutorials she's amazing with makeup!" I said opening my laptop and searching her on youtube. Once all of her videos came up I looked through her video list with my mum.

"Oooh how about that Kim Kardashian tutorial it looks good!" My mum suggested enthusiastically.

Within 45 minutes I had finished my makeup, all I had to do now was change with only 15 minutes left to go I made my mum leave the room so I could put on my red lacy underwear and pulled my red bodycon dress over the top.

"Come back in now Mum" I called from my room.

She immediately entered looking shocked "Gabs you look absolutely beautiful"!

"Thanks Mum" I said actually feeling beautiful for once. "Now I need shoes and some accessories, then I'm done".

"I have the perfect shoes here, put these on and see if they fit" she said handing me a pair of red and white wedges.

"Perfect" I said putting them on.

"You can keep them, I've had them for ages and never really worn them"

"Thanks mum" I said smiling and pulling her into a big hug.

To complete the rest of my outfit I picked up a biggish handbag shoved my phone, makeup, spare clothes for tomorrow and keys into it and sprayed some of my Nina Ricci perfume. A few minutes later Ellie arrived to pick me up.

"Gabs you look beautiful!" Ellie smiled as I got into the passenger seat.

"Thanks so do you" I said smiling back.

"So first we have to go and pick up Mr mystery man" She said with a glint in her eye.

"Speaking of him he's just texted me" I said smiling.

 **?: Can't wait to see you tonight :) x**

 **Me: On our way now!x x**

 **?: See you soon xx**

"Ooh interesting" Ellie laughed.

"So where does he live?" I asked curiously.

"Right here" She said pulling up outside an apartment block not too far from our school.

"Well uh lets go and let him know we're here" Ellie smiled squeezing my hand "You nervous?" I nodded slightly.

"He's truly lovely, you're gonna love him" Ellie said comfortingly before getting out of her car the same time as I did.

As we rang the bell we were buzzed through, after walking up 2 flights of stairs we were outside his flat. Ellie gently knocked.

"How big are these flats, what if his parents answer?" I started asking panicking.

"Gabs, chill!"She laughed calmly.

Suddenly the door opened.

"Hi Smellie" Troy said gently.

"Mr Bolton?" I asked nervously.

"Call me Troy" He smiled, the smile that made my knees weak.

"Ellie what are we doing here?" I whispered.

"Well Gabriella, you are here for your blind date" Ellie said beaming.

"But we can't go to the couples night then?" I asked puzzled.

"No but you will be having a much better date, anyways I have to go and pick my Jaseybear up" Ellie gave me a quick hug and left me and Troy stood there.

"Well, you look beautiful" he said making me blush, I took a glance at him he was wearing a nice white shirt and tie with black trousers and man did he look good.

"You look good too" I said smiling, almost forgetting he was my RE teacher.

"Come in?" He asked nervously. I nodded before walking inside and taking a look around, the hall way was pretty simple; white walls, a stand with a photo on of his family and a bowl for keys.

"Nice place" I said admiringly, it did have a particularly nice feel to it.

"Wanna go in the kitchen, I'll give you a tour of the rest later?"

"Sure" I said walking into the kitchen. It was perfect. He'd set it up perfectly; there was a little table with two seats in the middle with a red tablecloth and white roses in the middle of the table, the room was candlelit and the smell of food filled the air.

"Troy its perfect" I gasped.

He smiled warmly "I'm just glad you like it, I've been so nervous about today".

"So you're the person I've been texting, my mystery man?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, I asked Ellie to help me set it up" He said bashfully.

"But why?"

"Because I like you, despite being your teacher you really are something special"

"Wow" I said taking a seat. "So whats for dinner?" I asked cheekily.

"You'll have to wait and see" He replied taking a seat. "Want a drink?" He asked holding a bottle of red wine up and pouring himself a glass.

"Providing a student with alcohol Troy?" I asked jokingly passing him my glass.

"Who else has to know?" He smiled back happily pouring wine into my glass and passing it back.

"You hungry?"

"Very, hardly eaten anything today" I said, my stomach rumbling.

"Well I hope you'll be pleased with what I've picked out for you" He said with a smirk.

"I have very high expectations now Bolton"

"Better not let you down then had I Montez" He said teasingly as he went to his fridge and opened it, pulling out two medium sized plates which he then put down on the side, he began laying both sides of the table with two knives, two forks, a spoon and a napkin.

"Dinner is served Madame" he said placing infront of me a plate of salmon mousse dip and a small garden salad and for himself some breaded mushrooms and a chili and herb dip. I gasped in shock. "Wow" Is all I could really say.

"This is all perfect" I muttered to myself, picking up some of the bread on the side and dipping it into the little pot of salmon mousse on my plate.

"Are you impressed?" he asked curiously taking a bite of his mushroom.

"Yes" I smiled eating more "So how old are you exactly?" I asked curiously.

"23, my birthdays on the 22nd July" Troy said in between eating.

"Ah only 7 years between us, you know that's the age gap between my mum and her boyfriend actually" I said with a smile.

"What about your dad?" he asked softly.

"They broke up years ago, my dads living in Maidstone with his girlfriend now so I never really see him" I sighed eating.

"Sorry" He apologized sweetly.

"Hey, its fine, so what are your parents like?"

He pulled a face "Embarrassing".

"Isn't every parent?" We both laughed as we finished our starters.

"So whats next?"

"Pizza express pepperoni pizza, already heated it" he said getting up and putting the plates in the sink.

"Wow Troy" I said smiling.

"I just wanted to make the night as perfect as I could for you" He said putting the pizza on a plate with some chips, he then pulled out two plates by our places.

"Its already perfect" I reassured him whilst watching him put the pizza and chips infront of us.

"I got the biggest pizza I could find, so take as much as you want and as many chips as you want" He said sitting back down.

Throughout the meal we had a light conversation about things we liked and disliked.

"I think its time for dessert now" He said with a smile.

"Mmm what is it?"

"You'll have to wait and see" He said getting up and putting our plates by the sink.

"But I don't want to wait" I pouted whilst watching him pull two bowls out of the fridge, he then placed one infront of me and one for himself.

"You bought sherry trifle?!" I asked amazed.

"No, I made sherry trifle" He said smirking whilst taking his seat.

"Troy, this is all amazing" I said reaching over for his hand and squeezing it gently and smiling.

"Just how I wanted it to be" He said smiling.

"Troy, this tastes amazing" I said whilst eating.

"Just glad you like it".

Once we were finished I got up and took the plates away.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked puzzled.

"The washing up"

"No, leave that to me"

"No you've done all of this for me, I want to wash up in return"

"At least let me dry up?" He asked smiling.

"Fine" I said taking a plate and cleaning it off, then handing it to him to dry up which afterwards he put away. The system went like that for 15minutes until everything was finished.

"We make a good team" I said smiling.

"That we do, now its time for the cinema"

"But we can't go out in public?"

"Who said anything about going out?" He asked taking my hand and guiding me to the living room, inside was a 42inch flatscreen tv with a built in surround sound and a huge bowl of popcorn on the table with two glasses of wine.

"So what are we watching?"

"A film I'll think you'll enjoy" He said putting a dvd into the dvd player before grabbing the remote and taking a seat on his sofa, patting the space next to him for me to sit down. I laid down on his sofa with my head in his lap, perfectly comfortable.

I gasped as the film title came up on the screen; La Vita e Bella, my favourite film in the whole wide world.

"I hoped you would like it" Troy said with a smile.

"I hope you have tissues"

"Why?"

"Be prepared to cry" I smiled softly up at him.

"Us men never cry" He said winking.

Throughout the movie I had cried on and off, at one point I think I heard Troy sniffing a few times. But towards the end I was an emotional wreck, I never really noticed how much a film could touch my heart.

"Hey are you okay?" Troy said cuddling me closer.

"Yeah I'm fine, do you mind if I change into something more comfortable than this dress?" I asked.

"Sure, bathrooms the next door along on the right"

"Thanks" I said grabbing my bag and making my way into my bathroom. Once I was in there I got out my face wipes out and took off all of my makeup, not that I had much left on and it had all smudged from crying, I then started to undress, unzipping my dress and pulling it off, reaching into my bag I realised I'd left my my pyjamas at home.

"Troy?"

"Yeah?" He called from the living room.

"I think I've left my nightclothes at home, do you have anything I could borrow?"

"Stay there" He said, I could hear feet shuffling around until there was a knock on the door.

"Just leave it outside" I heard feet moving back into the living room so I quickly opened the door, scooped up the clothes and closed the door again.

All he had left was a shirt and a pair of his boxers, seeing as I was already wearing underwear I pulled the shirt over my arms doing up all of the buttons expect from the top one. I glanced at myself in the mirror, even I had to admit it did look pretty good on me, I took my hair out of my bun and just let it hang naturally.

I padded back into the living room, making Troy gasp at the sight of me in his shirt.

"Sorry I didn't have much else, I would give you some trackies but its really too warm for them, Ellie texted and she said if you want you can stay at hers or at mine or I could drive you home, whatever you like" He blurted out quickly.

"I can stay, if you want me to?" I asked politely.

"Of course" He said with a smile and picked up his phone to text Ellie back.

I resumed my place back on the sofa but with my feet in his lap instead.

"So what are we gonna watch now?" I asked getting comfy.

"Anything you want"

"Whats the time?"

"Uh 1:30am" Troy said glancing at his phone.

"I'm getting sleepy now" I yawned.

"Well uhm you can have my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa, or we could share my bed or whatever you want" He mumbled.

"We can share" I said with a smile. Troy grabbed the remote and put the tv on standby before glancing back at me. Troy lent over towards me a placed a soft kiss on my lips, I immediately reacted by kissing him back before he pulled away.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked seriously.

"Definitely" I said causing him to break out into a smile.

He kissed me back again but this time with more passion, Troy slipped his tongue into my mouth to make it that much more, I reacted right back by the way my tongue moved against his. He moved one of his hands up to my jaw so he could deepen it, and placed his hand on my waist as he pulled me closer to him. I ran one of my hands through his hair and one down to his lower back, pulling him closer much the same until I broke away in need of oxygen.

"Lets go to bed?" I suggested, Troy took my hand and helped me up before turning out the lights and leading me to the bedroom. I clambered into the bed and snuggled under the sheets, Troy removed his clothes leaving his boxers on and clambered into the other side of the bed and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Good night" He whispered before falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **NO ONES POV**

When Troy woke up the next morning he rolled over to check the time before rolling back over to wake Gabriella up, only she wasn't there. Troy started panicking when he found she wasn't there.

"Gabriella?" He called out nervously, hoping last night wasn't just a dream.

"In the kitchen" She called back cheerily, I sighed with relief before getting out of bed and making his way to the kitchen, he stopped by the doorway when he saw Gabriella dancing to the radio making breakfast in his shirt, she looked absolutely perfect.

She began to sing along to the radio:

 **I'm through with standin' in lines to clubs I'll never get in**

 **It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win**

 **This life hasn't turned out**

 **Quite the way I want it to be**

 **I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs**

 **And a bathroom I can play baseball in**

 **And a king size tub**

 **Big enough for ten plus me**

 **I need a a credit card that's got no limit**

 **And a big black jet with a bedroom in it**

 **Gonna join the mile high club**

 **At thirty-seven thousand feet**

 **I want a new tour bus full of old guitars**

 **My own star on Hollywood Boulevard**

 **Somewhere between Cher**

 **And James Dean is fine for me**

 **I'm gonna trade this life**

 **For fortune and fame**

 **I'd even cut my hair**

 **And change my name**

 **'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars**

 **And live in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars**

 **The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap**

 **We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat**

 **And we'll hang out in the coolest bars**

 **In the VIP with the movie stars**

 **Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there**

 **Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair**

 **And well, hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar**

 **Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar**

Gabriella suddenly turned round to find Troy gawping at her and she let out a little scream.

"Sorry you scared me" She giggled softly.

"Completely my fault" He apologised.

"I just had to sing, one of mine and Shars all time favourite songs" Gabriella smiled.

"Oh and I was actually just about to come and get you, I made breakfast" Gabriella said pointing towards the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon on toast.

"Thanks" He said kissing her cheek softly before taking a plate and sitting at the table.

"Its my way of saying thank you for such a great night last night" She said returning his smile and sitting down opposite him with her breakfast.

The rest of the morning was spent getting to know each other more and more, talking about favourite tv shows, celebrities and everything they could know about each other.

"So did you always want to be an RE and history teacher?" Gabriella asked listening intently.

"Actually no, I always wanted to be a basketball teacher until I got to 15 and I lost my Nana I had a change of heart, I haven't actually played basketball ever since"

"Wow, I'm sorry" Gabriella said holding his hand gently.

"No its totally fine, I'm happy doing what I do, so anyway what do you wanna do when you finish?"

"Honestly? I have no idea, maybe a nurse or an orthopedic surgeon" Gabriella said shyly.

"You know I've heard a lot about you, your mock GCSE results were incredible" Troy said causing Gabriella to blush.

"I just hope they're as good as the real thing" Gabriella sighed.

"I'm pretty sure you will" Troy said reassuringly.

"I should probably go and get changed now"

"Okay you can use the bedroom, I'm gonna take a quick shower" Troy said before disappearing into the bathroom, Gabriella made her way into the bedroom and found her bag, she quickly changed into her spare clothes; aztec leggings, her favourite red ratchet jumper and her red vans, after putting Troy's shirt in accidentally without realising. She put on a tiny bit of makeup and put her hair up in a messy bun before waiting in the living room for Troy to finish his shower.

 **Shar: Hey Gabs, missed you last night call me when you can xo**

"Troy?" Gabriella called as soon as I heard the water go off.

"Yeah?"

"I need to go soon, gotta meet Shar in a bit" Gabriella called partly truthfully, she really needed to talk to her.

"I'll be out in a minute, I could drop you home?"

"Sure"

 **Gabriella: Mama are you home?x x x**

 **Mum: No, had to go into work are you okay getting in?xxx**

 **Gabriella: Yeah have my key**

 **Mum: Okay sweetie, by the way I have a business trip from next monday until friday I could talk to your dad if you want?xxx**

 **Gabriella: No I'll be fine**

 **Mum: Okay love you mija xxx**

A few minutes later Troy left the bathroom and picked up his car keys from the bowl in the hallway.

"Oh uhm these are also for you" Troy said handing Gabriella some beautiful pink roses.

"Thank you" Gabriella smiled before setting the roses down on the nearest table and brought her mouth up to Troys adding kissing him passionately. Troy pushed her against the nearest wall. Her head hit it quite hard but all pain was forgotten when his lips were on hers again. There bodies being so close that his body lifted Gabriella slightly supporting her body while she ran her hands ran through his hair. Gabriella opened her mouth slightly and felt him smile as he slid his tongue in. She lifted her legs to wrap them around his waist and he moved his hands to hold her legs causing her to arch into him and him to moan. After a few more minutes she had to pull away, not just for oxygen, but Troy's mouth followed hers, missing her mouth already.

"Troy I really have to go now" She smiled gently kissing his cheek one more time before picking up her flowers and bag. Troy pouted but led her to his car.

10 minutes later after directing Troy to her house they finally got there.

"So goodbye?" Gabriella said unsure whether to kiss him again.

"I'll text you?" Troy said questioningly leaning over to kiss her softly one more time.

"Sure" She said getting out of the car and walking up to her house, turning round once more to give him a small wave before entering her house.

As soon as she got in she immediately got her phone out to call Sharpay, who surprisingly answered on the first ring.

"Gabi I've been waiting for you to call me all day!" She shrieked down the phone. "So who was it, whats he like, did you have fun last night, tell me everything!" She demanded.

"Why don't you come over, I'll explain everything?"

"On my way" Sharpay squealed before hanging up.

Gabriella fixed her hair and makeup before she heard Sharpays signature knock on her door, she quickly scrambled up to answer the door.

"Tell me everything" Sharpay said walking into Gabriella's house and turning on her tv, leaving a re run of How I Met Your Mother play in the background.

"Hello, I'm great thanks how are you?" Gabriella asked sarcastically rolling her eyes before closing the front door and sitting next to Sharpay.

"So details now?" Sharpay asked pouting.

"Well, you can't uhm tell anyone this okay?" Gabriella pleaded feeling shy, Sharpay could sense her friend was uneasy so squeezed her hand supportively.

"Promise" Sharpay said comfortingly, at times she could really be a good friend.

"The boy uh guy I went on a date with was uhm.. Troy Bolton" Gabriella whispered softly, surprisingly Sharpay didn't overreact due to Gabriella's nervousness, she simply hugged Gabriella and said "Thats great, I'm so happy for you!"

"You won't tell anyone either?" Gabriella sighed with relief

"Of course not!" Sharpay squealed a bit more dramatically, "So tell me what happened!"

"Well he cooked me the perfect meal, watched a few films and just goofed around" Gabriella said dreamily, leaving out the kissing part.

"Goofed around how?" Sharpay asked, clearly pleased for her friend.

"Yuno.."

"You had sex?!" Sharpay screamed.

"No no, just kissed a little bit" Gabriella blushed.

"Gabs thats great, I mean who even was your last boyfriend?"

"Reece Goodman"

"And what did you name him?"

"Too much tongue guy"

"And what was Troy like?"

"A God" Gabriella said dreamily and Sharpay winked.

"You know what this calls for?"

"What?" Gabriella asked partly scared.

"A girly day at the club next weekend, just you and me!" Sharpay clapped.

"Fine" Gabriella smiled, she knew she could always count on Sharpay.

"Did he buy you those roses?" Sharpay pointed at the roses Gabriella had just left on the table, completely forgetting them.

"Shit! Yeah I forgot to put them in water!" Gabriella hurriedly got up and found a vase to put the flowers in.

"They're really beautiful"

"I know" Gabriella smiled.

The next few weeks were spent with making out sessions in empty classrooms during free periods, secret looks during lessons and seeing each other after school and on weekends, these days had been perfect to Troy and Gabriella. Gabriella had even started doing Zumba classes with Sharpay and Ellie, she'd never been happier in her life and everyone could tell but no one seemed to question why.

"Gabriella dinners ready" Gabriella's mum called from downstairs.

"Down in a minute mama" Gabriella called before finishing her phonecall.

"Listen Troy, I really have to go now, I'll talk to you later" Gabriella said through her phone.

"Aw baby, do you have to?" Troy pleaded.

"Yes" Gabriella laughed into the phone, they went through this every night.

"Well, can I see you tomorrow, I have to go out somewhere but you could stay over?"

"No, I have that wedding to go to" Gabriella sighed, she'd rather see Troy than go to a stupid wedding.

"Wait who's wedding?"

"Gabriella, dinner now!" Gabriella's mum yelled furiously.

"Ah I really have to go" Gabriella said hanging up before Troy could even reply.

"Coming mama!"

It was already the next day and Gabriella now had to decide what to wear to this wedding, she would've cancelled but her dad was the best man and she did promise to go..

In the end she went for a strapless blue and white striped mini dress with her navy blue wedges, her makeup was light and for once she'd let her hair down in its natural curls.

"Mija, your dads waiting outside for you" Gabriella's mum called from downstairs.

"Coming!" Gabriella called rushing down the stairs.

"Well don't you look beautiful" her mother gushed as she gave Gabriella a quick hug before she left.

The ceremony part was absolutely boring for Gabriella, she wasn't abled to text Troy and she had to sit next to her dad's girlfriend. Luckily for her once it was over everyone made their way to the reception at a small quaint pub not to far from the ceremony so it only took 3 minutes to get there in a taxi.

Once she was there she could finally relax, she got out her phone to send a text;

 **Gabriella: Sorry for such a long reply, had to get ready then go straight to the wedding, miss you x x**

Gabriella glanced at her phone waiting for a reply, after 5 minutes she slid her phone back into her bag.

"Everyone ready to catch the bouquet?" The bride called out, a huge group of women were all jumping in front of eachother all trying to catch the bouquet, making Gabriella be squashed into the back, to her surprise the already drunken bride threw it a little too far and the bouquet fell into Gabriella's hands to all the other womens dismay they went back their drinks and friends.

"Never really pictured you as one for catching a bouquet, and you do know it's quite mean to turn up to a wedding and look even more beautiful than the bride" A familiar voice from behind her whispered into her ear, making goosebumps erupt on her skin.

"Troy what are you doing here?" She turned around with a huge grin on her face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Friends with the groom" Troy smiled back at her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gabriella asked still in shock.

"You hung up on me"

"I'm sorry" Gabriella said with a cheeky grin.

"You look beautiful" Troy blurted out unexpectedly.

"Why thank you, you don't look too bad yourself" Gabriella said eyeing him up in his suit.

"Wanna go somewhere more quiet?"

"Sure" Gabriella replied as Troy led her to a little dark room away from the party.

"Finally" Gabriella said as she brought her lips to Troys.

"Mmmm, someone could see us in here" Troy murmured in between kisses.

"You want to stop?" Gabriella asked parting away from his lips.

"No" Troy muttered before kissing her again, this time deeper and more passionately. After a few minutes both had to pull away in need for air.

"I should probably go and find my dad, hes probably wondering where I am"

"Okay, well I'll see you around?" Troy said kissing her cheek before she left.

It had been a good hour since Gabriella had seen Troy, she'd chatted to various different guests she knew from around, though she wasn't particularly interested in anything they had to say. Finally after wandering around a little she was only a meter behind him, about to tap him before she realised he was with two other friends. Quickly sitting down she hid behind a menu card on the table just within earshot of them.

"So when do we get to meet this 'amazingly beautiful' girlfriend of yours?" One of his friends asked him curiously.

"In time" Troy said with a grin, Gabriella blushed behind the menu card.

"You really like her don't you" The other asked.

"Maybe" Troy said toying with them.

"Clearly, that's why we haven't seen you in the past month" Hearing this made Gabriella feel quite guilty.

"Actually I've had huge amounts to mark, but partly" Troy said smiling to himself.

"She must be special, I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time" His friend said as soon as Gabriella walked past, Troy not hearing what his friend said but his gaze went straight to Gabriella, watching her talk to others around and not taking his eyes off of her for what felt like forever.

"Uhm Troy?" His friend asked waving a hand infront of his face.

"Excuse me a moment" Troy said making his way over to the bar to get another drink, close to where Gabriella was standing.

"So Gabi, seeing anyone at the moment?" Jenny asked nosily.

"Yeah actually, I am" Gabriella smiled at Jenny and Tyler who were listening intently.

"Ooh whats he like?" Tyler asked, he was just like a gay bestfriend to Gabriella, always giving her fashion tips, boy advice though she didn't really need it when she had a Sharpay around.

"Sweet, kind, caring, hot and basically perfect" Gabriella answered honestly.

"Well I'd like to meet him one day" Jenny demanded

"Of course" Gabriella smiled.

"Hey Gabriella" Josh said sounding very drunk, Josh was the guy who'd had a crush on Gabriella since well, since he'd met her when they were in primary together, even being 3 years older than her, since when did age matter now?

"Hi Josh" Gabriella said showing no interest at all.

"You look hoooooot" Josh drawled, basically speaking on behalf of every teenage/young adult in the room.

"Thanks" Gabriella smiled politely.

"Wanna go upstairs, theres a bed" Josh winked

"No, I'm good down here"

"Lets go the fuck up the stairs" Josh said forcefully, at that moment Troy thought he was about to punch that guy, instead he stepped backwards into Gabriella causing Gabriella to tip her drink all over Josh, excellent.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry" Gabriella said to Josh before turning around to see who had knocked into her.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there" Troy said softly to Gabriella, though they both knew he wasn't really sorry.

"Its perfectly alright" Gabriella said gazing at Troy, both so caught up in each other that neither had realised Josh had sulked off.

"Having fun?" Troy asked smiling slightly as Gabriella groaned.

"Not really, I kinda miss you"

"I'm in the same building as you, silly" Troy joked. "In all seriousness, I kinda missed you too".

Gabriella sighed "I'm off to go and find my dad, I'll see you again probably"

As much as Troy wanted to kiss Gabriella, he couldn't so he watched her walk away before going to find his own friends.

"Hi dad" Gabriella said as she approached her dad, who was stood talking to two other men.

"Hey Gabi, I want you to meet some of my friends; Joe and Richard" Gabriella's dad said, the men being the two Troy had been speaking to earlier.

"Hi" Gabriella smiled giving them a small wave.

"Hi" They both replied back.

Gabriella just stood there not really paying attention to anything they were saying. She looked up and saw Troy making his way outside to his friends, smiling as he saw her.

"Troy my man" Joe spoke up as Troy got closer.

"Hey man" Troy said as he finally reached them, giving Gabriella a secret smile.

"Troy this is Chris, Chris this is Troy" Richard said introducing Gabriella's dad with Troy.

"And this is his daughter Gabriella"

"I know" Troy said a little dreamily, the three men all looked puzzled. "I mean, yeah I know I teach her RE class"

"Ohh" Richard and Joe both said before Joe added "She doesn't look like she goes to school, she looks at least 21".

Gabriella just blushed, Troy smiled as he noticed. The four men continued talking about, well whatever men like to talk about, though Troy and Gabriella exchanged regular secret glances.

"Gabriella, you're awfully quiet today" Gabriella's dad pointed out infront of them all.

"I just feel a little ill" Gabriella said quite truthfully, everyone had offered her champagne and at the time it seemed nice, now she wasn't so sure.

"You want to go back to my hotel room, I have the key and its just around the corner" Gabriella's dad offered.

"Thanks dad" She said as she hugged him quickly and took the key.

"Want me to walk you there?" He offered.

"I can Mr Montez, I mean I'm just about to leave now anyway so it's no problem" Troy asked bravely, Gabriella smiled a little.

"Thanks buddy" Chris said before shaking his hand in saying goodbye.

"See you later mate" Joe and Richard both said as they walked off.

"Are you sure you're okay, you've gone pale" Troy asked concerned.

"I'll be fine"

Finally a few minutes later they were in the hotel room and just in time, Gabriella ran to the bathroom to throw up.

"Gabi are you okay?" Troy asked as he rushed into the bathroom after her.

"Am now" Gabriella said weakly as she washed her mouth out under the tap.

"Good" Troy whispered softy stroking her hair.

"You should probably go now" Gabriella sighed.

"Fine, I'll text you" Troy said as he kissed her cheek before leaving.

As he closed the door he muttered to himself as he walked away.

"I love you".


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gabriella made her way over to Troy's earlyish on a sunday morning, she'd spent the whole time dreamily wandering over slowly, the past few months with him and been the most amazing time of her life, he was sweet, caring, funny and just all around perfect. Absolutely perfect for Gabriella. He'd already got her a key cut for the main door so she could get in easily and not have to wait around to be buzzed in, nothing was going to ruin this perfect morning. She almost danced as she walked up the stairs, she'd also been able to tell her friends about Troy, having every faith in them to keep her secret and they had, they were so amazing.

Once she finally made her way her way up to his apartment she knocked on the door gently, excited to see Troy but to her disappointment a tall, blonde beautiful woman answered the door.

"Hello, who are you?" She asked sweetly with a fake smile.

"Who is it Ness?" Troy asked walking out in his boxers, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Gabriella stood at the door.

Gabriella stood still in shock for a moment, she couldn't start an argument here so what could she do other than what Shar would tell her to do 'improvise' of course.

"Oh hi, I'm Gabi from the apartment below, I was just making breakfast and I needed eggs and Troy usually has some so I was gonna ask for some, I've never seen you here before who are you?" Gabriella asked as fakely as possible trying to force back tears, Troy could see the pain in her eyes, it completely broke his heart.

"Oh I'm Vanessa, call me Nessa and sure Troy go and get Gabi some eggs" Vanessa demanded quite rudely.

Troy came back with two eggs and handed them to Gabriella awkwardly, Gabriella glanced coldly at him before glancing away.

"Well thanks" Gabriella said before turning away and walking back downstairs.

"Gabriella wait" Troy called running after her.

"What do you want" Gabriella asked coldly not bothering to turn around to face him.

"I want to explain, its not what it looks like"

"Its exactly what it looks like, just because you can't get in my pants you get in hers, you're clearly like every other guy and you're so full of bullshit, you probably just used me to get her back, well you won, you used me and got her back I guess breaking my heart was probably a good bonus to, why me though because I'm an easy target? Because I'm young, naive and just stupid? Well you know you're not that clever yourself, I sat mentally editing your little speech in RE about John Hicks you gave, it was full of huge mistakes and that night after the wedding you know why I sent you away, because I thought if you saw me after that it would have scared you away, but my mistake I was just part of your silly little game, well congratulations, I don't want to be apart of it, I'm going to ask if I can be transferred to Mr Gunns lesson to save us both from the awkwardness, well just myself you won't even care" Gabriella said taking a deep breath after her huge speech, it was then she broke down and the tears all came out.

"Gabriella, that night when you were sick was the night I realised I was in love with you, and I still really am its not part of a game, I really do love you" Troy said truthfully.

"Save your bullshit for someone who gives a shit Troy, I'm done here this is it, we're waaaay over" Gabriella cried out before marching out, still carrying the eggs, as she walked outside she noticed Troys car, as much as she wanted to throw those stupid eggs all over his car she told herself she had more dignity than that and placed them gently on his car before dialing the number of the only person she wanted to talk to.

Shar picked up immediately "So hows it going with loverboy?" She asked teasingly.

"We're over Shar" Gabriella whispered barely audible into the phone.

"Where are you, I'll be right there!" Sharpay basically screamed into the phone.

"Corner of Frith street" Gabriella whimpered into the phone.

"I'll be ten minutes" Sharpay said before hanging up.

The next ten minutes went quickly for Gabriella, everything was a blur. Sharpay pulled up in her bright pink convertible and Gabriella got in straight away, before Gabriella could even put on her seatbelt Sharpay had sped off, almost running an elderly couple right over, Gabriella would usually moan or squeal but today she hadn't even noticed, but Sharpay had noticed something was wrong with her bestest friend in the world.

"Where are we going Shar?" Gabriella asked curiously as they sped straight past the turning to her house.

"We need some good old girly time, we haven't had any since all these boys have taken over our lives"

"Fine" Gabriella sighed.

A few minutes later they were outside the Evans' mansion, which actually looked quite empty today with no one around which was very unusual.

"Mum and dad went away, Ryans with the guys and the cleaners and other staff weren't needed" Sharpay explained, not that Gabriella really needed to know.

Once they were inside Sharpay ran into her kitchen and brought back two huge tubs of Ben and Jerrys with spoons, a huge bag of popcorn, a bottle of wine and a massive bar of galaxy, Gabriella's favourites.

"Oh I called your mum by the way and you're allowed to stay here" Sharpay smiled.

"But what about pyjamas, uniform tomorrow and books and other shit I need" Gabriella smiled weakly back.

"I'll take you home tomorrow to pick up your bag and shit, you can borrow some of my pyjamas and uniform, we're gonna make you hot as tomorrow m'kay?" Sharpay asked, Gabriella just nodded not wanting to argue with her.

"So what film should we watch?"

"Go take a look"

Gabriella glanced at the rack picking out; the notebook, the vow, Romeo and Juliet and the ugly truth. She turned on the huge 50inch flatscreen tv on and put the dvd in the dvd player, she went to press play on the remote before Sharpay stopped her.

"We're not ready yet!" Sharpay exclaimed pulling Gabriella up and dragging her upstairs.

"Sooo first we need to get you some pyjamas, remove your makeup and then take the mattresses downstairs" Sharpay said smiling as she said the mattress part, making Gabriella smile too.

Once they'd both changed into Sharpay's comfy silk pyjamas, they took off their makeup and pulled the two mattresses, blankets and pillows out of one of the many guest rooms.

"Who's gonna go down first?" Gabriella asked smiling, almost returning to her old self.

"You can" Sharpay said as they both threw the pillows and blankets to the bottom.

"WOOOO" Gabriella screamed as she slid down the stairs on the mattress, it was always a tradition at the Evans' house, a very very good tradition.

"FUCK YE BITCHES" Sharpay yelled at the top of the voice on her mattress, landing with a thud at the bottom as she crashed into Gabriella, the girls were both lying on the mattresses having one of their huge regular laughing fits, after about 10 minutes they eventually set the living room up to watch the notebook, eating their half melted Ben and Jerrys, though it still tastes absolutely amazing.

Halfway through the notebook both of the girls were in a state, Gabriella glanced at her phone quickly;

 **15 missed calls, 5 voicemails, 10 bbms (blackberry messenger) and 11 texts;**

 **Troy: Gabriella come back, I want to explain**

 **Troy: Pleas answer!**

 **Mum: Have a good night at Shars xxxx**

 **Troy: Gabriella we really need to talk**

 **Taylor: Shar called me, chin up Gabs love you xxxxxxxx**

 **Kels: Cheer up chicken, everythings gonna be okay x x**

 **Martha: We all love you3**

 **Chad: Zeke and Jason have no credit, but we all love you Gabster xxxx**

 **Ryan: Everythings gonna be okay Gabs xx**

 **Troy: Its not what you think.**

She read through her bbms, basically all unimportant apart from more messages from her friends, tears filled her eyes as she read all of her texts, her friends always knew what to say and how to cheer her up. She was quite upset that Ellie had gone on holiday for 2 weeks so she couldn't talk to her for advice or comfort. She ignored all of her missed calls and voicemails and only replied to her mum and friends before throwing her phone onto the mattress, a curious Sharpay picked it up and turned it off along with her phone.

"No phones tonight, okay?" She said softly, Gabriella could only nod before Sharpay pulled her into a huge hug.

By the fourth film they'd already watched The notebook, The vow and Romeo and Juliet, along with finishing all the food.

"You feeling any better now Gabs?" Sharpay asked softly.

Gabriella nodded "A lot better" she said before turning her head back to the tv.

"Good"

"Hey Shar?"

"Yeeeah?"

"Why are all men assholes?" Gabriella asked causing Sharpay to laugh, commenting on Troy but also the film.

"I don't know Gabby, maybe they're just all born like it" Sharpay smiled softly.

Towards the end of the night both the girls had fallen asleep in the living room after a well needed girly day, they hadn't had many at all after they'd all discovered boys.

"Morning sunshine" Sharpay sung as Gabriella woke up.

"What time is it?" Gabriella moaned sleepily.

"6am" Sharpay sung still.

"Ughhh we still have 3 hours until school Shar"

"Enough time to make us look drop dead gorgeous then" Sharpay said as she pulled Gabriella up and dragged her to the kitchen.

"I have microwavable pancakes, and you know how to make lattes don't you?" Sharpay asked chirpily.

"Yeees" Gabriella groaned as she got up to make the coffees.

Once they'd finished breakfast Gabriella felt a lot more awake.

"Gabs, what do you want done to your hair?" Sharpay asked as they made their way up to her bedroom.

"Uhm curls"

"Heated or natural?"

"Heated"

"Good choice, can you straighten my hair for me, you're so good at it!"

"Fine".

After an hour of doing eachothers hair, Sharpay added the finishing touches to Gabriella's curly backcombed hair, adding Tigi's bed hair spray adding more 'ooooomf' to it as she liked to call it. Both of their hairs were huge after Sharpay had finished, next was makeup.

For Gabriella, Sharpay made hers light, a small bit of foundation with matte powder, a set of smaller false eyelashes and some clear but visible lipgloss, she looked beautiful.

Sharpay's makeup was quite similar but with a bright pink lipstick.

"Now just uniform" Sharpay sung out, she really was in a good mood this morning.

Sharpay had given Gabriella one of her dark lacy bra's and a tight shirt (much the same as Sharpays), both of their skirts had been completely taken up and were only mid thigh length. Sharpay lent Gabriella a pair of black knee high socks and a pair of black platformed vans that Gabriella had left there before. Sharpays uniform was exactly the same except for the fact she wore white knee high socks and creepers.

"We look incredible" Sharpay admired as she gazed at both of them in the mirror.

"Honestly, I feel a bit better even if I feel sluttier" Gabriella admitted, though she felt better on the outside, not so much on the inside.

"What did I teach you Gabby, you don't choose the slut life, the slut life chooses you" Sharpay said causing Gabriella to giggle, Sharpay had said that to her since they were about 11 years old.

"Of course, of course" Gabriella said with a smile.

"Lets go"

On the way to school in Sharpays car, Sharpay let the roof down as it was quite a hot day, but also for attention, which they had gotten a lot of.

"So we need to pick up Kels and Taylor cause they're at Chads" Sharpay announced as they pulled up outside Chads.

"Wow" Chad whistled as he saw the two girls, Taylor just hit him playfully.

"You cleaned up good girl" Taylor complimented Gabriella as she and Kelsi got into the car, Sharpay coughed slightly.

"You look hot too Shar" Kelsi said laughing.

"What are you gonna do about RE Gabs?" Kelsi asked cautiously.

"I'm gonna ask if she can be transferred to mine, to 'tutor' me and help me understand it more which is partly true" Sharpay answered for Gabriella.

"Anyway I think we could do with a bit of singing to liven up this journey" Sharpay giggled, putting a CD into the player and turning it on full volume.

 **I know a place**

 **Where the grass is really greener**

 **Warm, wet, and wild**

 **There must be somethin' in the water**

 **Sippin' gin and juice**

 **Layin' underneath the palm trees**

 **The boys break their necks**

 **Tryin' to creep a little sneak peek**

 **You could travel the world**

 **But nothing comes close to the golden coast**

 **Once you party with us**

 **You'll be fallin'in love**

 **California girls, we're unforgettable**

 **Daisy dukes, bikinis on top**

 **Sun-kissed skin, so hot**

 **We'll melt your popsicle**

 **California girls, we're undeniable**

 **Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it unlocked**

 **West-coast represent**

 **Now put your hands up**

 **Sex on the beach**

 **We've got white sand in our stilettos**

 **We freak in my jeep**

 **Snoop Doggy Dogg on the stereo**

 **You could travel the world**

 **But nothing comes close to the golden coast**

 **Once you party with us**

 **You'll be fallin'in love**

 **California girls, we're unforgettable**

 **Daisy dukes, bikinis on top**

 **Sun-kissed skin, so hot**

 **We'll melt your popsicle**

 **California girls, we're undeniable**

 **Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it unlocked**

 **West-coast represent**

 **Now put your hands up**

 **Toned, tanned, fit, and ready**

 **Turn it up 'cause it's gettin'heavy**

 **Wild, wild west-coast**

 **These are the girls I love the most**

 **I mean the ones, I mean like she's the one**

 **Kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns**

 **The girl's a freak, she drive a Jeep**

 **And live on the Beach**

 **I'm okay, I won't play, I love the bay**

 **Just like I love L.A.**

 **Venice Beach and Palm Springs**

 **Summertime is everyday**

 **Homeboys bangin'out**

 **All that ass hangin'out**

 **Bikinis, zuchinis,martinis, no weenies**

 **Just a king and a queenie**

 **Katy, my lady?**

 **Yeah?**

 **Looky here, baby**

 **I'm all up on ya**

 **'Cause your represtin'California**

 **California girls, we're unforgettable**

 **Daisy dukes, bikinis on top**

 **Sun-kissed skin, so hot**

 **We'll melt your popsicle**

 **California girls, we're undeniable**

 **Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it unlocked**

 **West-coast represent**

 **Now put your hands up**

They all sung as loudly as possible, catching everyones attention as they pulled up at school.

As they all clambered out of the car Sharpay turned to Taylor and Kelsi "See you later gurls, we got some persuading to do" Sharpay said air kissing them both, Gabriella gave a little wave.

As Gabriella and Sharpay walked up to the staffroom with their arms linked they saw a very tired looking Mr Bolton walking towards them, both giving him a cold glare as he walked past, awestruck at how amazing Gabriella looked but heartbroken as he knew what he'd done to her. Once they knocked on the door the headmaster answered straight away.

"What can I help you with?"

"Well we actually came to see you, we were wondering if you could maybe move Gabriella and maybe Taylor over to my RE group, this is because I'm really struggling and they're so good at it and I'm doing awfully in it and it would be a huge help" Sharpay asked batting her eyelashes.

"I'll see what I can do" He muttered walking off, he didn't even bother asking for their names because they were practically the most talked about students in school.

"Well that was easy" Sharpay grinned hugging Gabriella.

"Whats your first lesson?"

"Ugh drama" Sharpay moaned.

"Unlucky, I got a free period" Gabriella grinned, her grin fading when she remembered what she and Troy would do in those free periods.

Sharpay quickly distracted her "So as its christmas in a few weeks, we need to do some christmas shopping!"

"Oh sure, I haven't got anything yet"

"How about this saturday, and in the evening we can go to a nightclub?"

"Okay"

After discussing this with Kelsi, Martha and Taylor they all went their separate ways; Kelsi to music, Sharpay to drama and Martha and Taylor to design tech, which left Gabriella with a free period on her own. She wandered down to the school's rose gardens, somewhere her and Troy would go away from the world.

She sat right at the bottom of the gardens at her groups table, she tried to concentrate on her own design tech product (she was in a different class to Martha and Taylor).

"You mind if I sit here?" One of the shyer sixth form boys asked her politely, pointing to the seat opposite her.

"Sure" Gabriella smiled sweetly.

"I'm Aaron by the way" He said holding out his hand.

"Gabriella" She replied shaking his hand. In the corner of her eye she could see Troy sat at his own table looking down at his paperwork sadly.

"You're in year 11 right?"

"Yeah, Ms Darbus' group"

"Ah she seems.. interesting" They both laughed.

"She is, she's not as bad as everyone makes out actually"

Aaron and Gabriella both carried on talking through out the free period, both exchanging numbers at the end before he got up to leave.

"See you around" He called as he walked away.

Troy immediately walked over to Gabriella who was still seated.

"Gabriella will you please let me explain?"

"Explain what, explain how you were clearly seeing someone else behind my back because what? Because I'm clearly not good enough for you?"

"No, I wasn't seeing her she was my ex and she came back to surprise me"

"Was your ex? So your immediately back together as soon as I dump you? Troy I don't have time for this I have studies to do so please leave me alone, for good" Gabriella said getting up and collecting her papers.

"This is goodbye Troy" Troy felt as if his heart had been ripped out as she walked away holding back tears.

Finally it was the end of her free period and she met Sharpay to walk to Business Studies together.

"So how did free period go?"

"Uh it was shitty, met a nice sixth former though" Gabriella smiled slightly.

"See Troy?"

"Yeah, unfortunately"

"It's all gonna be okay Gabs" Sharpay reassured Gabriella.

Luckily for Gabriella it was almost Saturday, her and Taylor had also been moved to Sharpay's RE to 'help out' Sharpay as their grades were basically the best in the school. Though that day their new RE teacher had been away on a school trip with half of year 11, so the two RE classes had been mixed together with Mr Bolton as their teacher.

Gabriella sighed as she walked to her new seat with Sharpay and Taylor "So much for that plan then".

"Its only a week, it will be fine Gabs" Taylor comforted her.

"Mr Bolton, because we're doing coverwork can we listen to music please?" Sharpay begged, there were only about 10 of them in the room.

"Yes" Troy sighed as he glanced over at Gabriella who was busy focusing on her work.

"I soooo can't wait for tomorrow night" Sharpay said rather loudly as everyone began to listen to their own music.

"Yeah Gabs, its time for you to meet new people, this week has been so hard for you and you deserve to be HAPPY" Taylor said just as loudly as Gabriella, making sure Troy could hear.

"But you're totally looking hot, I like this new Gabriella" Sharpay made Gabriella smile a little bit before she decided to put one headphone in to listen to music, giving Sharpay her own headphone to shut her up.

The next day had been much better for Gabriella, she'd been Christmas shopping with the girls and actually been successful; for her mum she'd bought a pretty necklace and a cute bag, for her mum's boyfriend a couple of films, they'd all split up later to buy eachother's presents, for Sharpay Gabriella had bought her the mac eyeshadow pallet she had not shut up about, for Taylor she had bought a nice charm bracelet, for Kelsi her favourite bands CD and for Martha another one of her favourite bands CD.

Finally the girls were all ready to go out, Gabriella wearing a short green dress with red accessories, Sharpay with vice versa, Martha with a Green blouse and a short red skirt, Kelsi with a longer red dress and Taylor with a longer green dress.

"See anyone you like?" Sharpay asked Gabriella as they got in the club.

"I see the bar, I like to drink" Gabriella giggled.

"Can I have 5 shots of tequila, a coke, a Bacardi and coke, 2 wkd's and a gin and tonic" Sharpay ordered, only having to pay half price because well she was pretty and a girl.

"Girls, shot time!" Sharpay called as the bartender placed the shots in front of them. They all downed their shots quickly and took their drinks before getting out onto the dancefloor.

"Hey, Gabriella" Aaron said approaching a slightly drunk Gabriella.

"Hey Aaron" She smiled seductively.

"Can I get you a drink?" He smiled back.

"Sure" She replied as they walked over to the bar.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked smiling at Gabriella.

"Just a Smirnoff ice please"

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked looking at Aaron.

"Nothing for me" He replied before paying for the drinks.

Once Gabriella had finished her drink she whispered seductively in Aarons ear "Take me home"

They made it outside before Gabriella threw up, she really couldn't hold alcohol down at all.

"I'm fine, I'm fine" Gabriella said wiping her mouth, Aaron just sat on the wall near to the club, Gabriella walked over to him and sat next to him.

She turned his face to face her and began to kiss him, he pulled away a few seconds after.

"Is something wrong?" She asked quietly.

"Gabriella, I'm gay" He chuckled a little bit.

"Oh" She said as she began to laugh drunkenly, both sat there for a few minutes laughing it over, mainly overreacting due to the alcohol.

"In all seriousness, I saw in your eyes when you went to kiss me, you were thinking of someone else" He said wrapping an arm around her.

"Yeah" She said sadly suddenly feeling sober.

"What happened?"

"He uh cheated on me, I uhm think"

"You think?" He asked softly

"I never really listened to the full story, I was in too much pain"

"I think you should hear the full story, if you two had something good why waste it?"

"I guess so, it sounds stupid at this age but he felt like the one"

"There's this story my mum used to tell me when I felt like that about guys, she'd always tell me 'I was heading up the country to my parents, I was doing 90 on the country roads, and I got pulled over. So then a police officer swaggered over and said, 'Ma'am, I've been waiting for you all day.' And I said, 'Sorry Officer, I got here as fast as I could! And I'd always ask for real? She'd say no, it's just a joke. I know that you're tired of waiting. And you may have to wait a little while more but, you'll find him Gabriella and it will all work out, one day you'll be happily married, maybe kids and you'll have the perfect life, its all coming as fast as it can, I promise" He explained hugging Gabriella.

"I guess I have to go get him then, while I can" Gabriella stood up ready to call a taxi.

"I'll drive you, I haven't drunk anything tonight so I can drive" He said walking her to the car.

"Lets go get him" She whispered softly.

Eventually they made it to Troys apartment, Aaron sat in his car while he waited for Gabriella, she quickly ran, well stumbled up to his apartment.

She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.

As soon as he appeared she kissed him gently, shocking him.

"Gabriella, are you drunk?"

"No, well yes maybe but thats not the point, the point is I never listened to you and I'm sorry, I was too busy thinking of all the bad things that coud've happened instead of the good things, I just I love you"

"I'm so sorry Gabriella, I'm back with Nessa" Troy almost cried on the spot, he still loved Gabriella but Nessa had basically forced him into a relationship with her, he really didn't love her.

Gabriella ran back down the stairs to Aaron crying her eyes out, he immediately got out of the car and gave her a huge hug.

"He has... he has another girlfriend" She cried into his shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **3 Days To Christmas**

The next few weeks of school were a blur, everyone around her was so happy about Christmas but Gabriella couldn't care less. Ellie was back and as much as she had tried to talk Troy out of seeing Vanessa, it hadn't worked, he couldn't tell Ellie the truth, he couldn't tell anyone so he had to keep going along with it.

"Ugh I'm so glad its the last day of the term" Gabriella moaned to Sharpay as they sat in assembly.

"Me too, day after boxing day you're all sleeping round mine, do you have many plans?"

"None at all" Gabriella sighed.

"Well thats good cause you'll be with me all the time" Sharpay smiled.

"So glad we got the last two chairs at the back for this show thing" Gabriella said, the 'show thing' was where anyone who wanted to could join the little Christmas play they would put on every year, this year Sharpay hadn't bothered as it took up too much time and she had a Gabriella to look after.

"At least they're playing Christmas music during the breaks" Sharpay noted as all the pupils starting to sing along.

"Should we sing too?" Gabriella smiled, almost returning to her old self once and for all.

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

I don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true oh

All I want for Christmas is you

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need, and I

Don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

I don't need to hang my stocking

There upon the fireplace

Santa Claus won't make me happy

With a toy on Christmas day

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

All I want for Christmas is you.

The hall went silent as the music went off, leaving Gabriella and Sharpay still singing.

I won't ask for much this Christmas

I won't even wish for snow, and I

I just wanna keep on waiting

Underneath the mistletoe

They went quiet as they realised they were the only ones singing, everyone began laughing and clapping once they stopped. Troy looked at Gabriella and smiled softly, she actually smiled back for once.

"Carry on!" Someone yelled from the crowd.

"Yeah!" They heard Taylor, Martha and Kelsi yell from amongst others.

I won't make a list and send it

To the North Pole for Saint Nick

I won't even stay awake

To hear those magic reindeer click

'cause I just want you here tonight

Holding on to me so tight

What more can I do

Oh, Baby all I want for Christmas is you

All the lights are shining

So brightly everywhere

And the sound of children's

Laughter fills the air

And everyone is singing

I hear those sleigh bells ringing

Santa won't you bring me

The one I really need

Won't you please bring my baby to me quickly

I don't want a lot for Christmas

This is all I'm asking for

I just wanna see my baby

Standing right outside my door

I just want you for my own

More than you could ever know

Make my wish come true

Baby all I want for Christmas is you

By the end everyone else was on their feet clapping and singing along even teachers, Gabriella and Sharpay were stood on their chairs acting as if they were on a stage.

The rest of the play was pretty dull, Gabriella and Sharpay talked throughout it about well christmas, both getting pretty excited considering it was only 3 DAYS! After that the rest of the day flew by, everyone said their goodbyes and all hurried home waiting for christmas.

 **2 DAYS To Christmas**

"Gabby?" Jason spoke down the phone.

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time I got to see my Gabster?" He whined.

"Last week"

"Can I come over?"

"Why not, I need help wrapping presents anyway" Gabriella laughed.

"I'll be round in a minute"

Gabriella brushed off the lumps of sellotape stuck to her (she really did suck at wrapping presents) and changed into something which wasn't covered in sellotape like her christmas pyjamas. A few minutes later Jason arrived.

"Gabby!" He squealed picking her up and giving her a huge hug.

"Jasooooon" She smiled, he really was the brother she never had.

"So how are you?" He asked walking into her living room to see the huge mess on the floor.

"I'm okay, finally" Gabriella sighed to herself.

"So what film should we watch while we sort this lot out?" He asked glancing down at the huge stack of presents and pile of wrapping paper.

"How about our old favourite?"

"Lord of the rings, YES" Jason practically screamed.

"You're really beginning to sound like Sharpay" Gabriella laughed.

"Sowwie" He pouted mockingly.

"Hey, remember when our whole group would play Lord Of The Rings in primary school? I'd be Frodo, Shar would be Sam, Kels and Taylor Merry and Pippin, Chad was Gimli, you were Aragon and Ryan was Gandalf and we'd all pretend to go on crazy adventures over the hills and parks, we never really cared if we looked ridiculous" Gabriella said giggling at the memory.

"Those really were the good old days" Jason said fondly as they began to watch the movie.

Halfway through the movie they finally began wrapping up the presents, well Jason wrapped the presents whilst Gabriella would pass sellotape every now and then when she could drag her eyes away from the tv. The doorbell rang suddenly surprising them both. Gabriella sprung up immediately to answer it.

Once she opened the door she realised it was only the postman.

"Roses hear for a Miss Gabriella Montez" He said blankly handing her a huge bouquet of red roses.

"Sign here" He tossed a pen and the paperwork towards her as soon as she'd put down the roses.

"Thank you" She said before shutting the door.

"Who was that" Jason asked, instead of replying she walked in carrying the huge bouquet.

Gabriella found the small label attached to the material that held them all together;

 **72 roses, for each day that I have loved you.**

 **Merry Christmas Gabriella.**

 **T x**

"Wow" Jason said reading the note, a few tears escaped Gabriella's eye.

"Come here" Jason said opening his arms out wide, Gabriella immediately hugged him. "I just wanna be happy again Jase" Gabriella sobbed.

 **Christmas Eve!**

"Gabriellaaaaaaa" Sharpay sung as she stood outside her door at 9am, Sharpay had already texted Gabriella to be ready.

"Coming" Gabriella called from the other side of her door as she grabbed her coat.

"Finally, I've been waiting here for like hours" Sharpay moaned dramatically.

"Uh Shar you only just got here" Gabriella laughed hugging her.

"Anyways, the girls are in the car, hope you're ready"

"Ready for what?"

"You'll see" Sharpay replied walking to her car.

The ride to the 'mysterious' place had been pretty fun, filled with singing christmas songs and basically just laughing over everything. They'd been driving for about 2 hours until they finally reached their destination, London.

"Shar, what are we doing in London?" Gabriella asked gasping as they pulled up in a car park near to Oxford street.

"Well we know you've been pretty down at the moment, so we wanted to do something to cheer you up" Kelsi explained.

"I love you guys" Gabriella pulled them all into a huge group hug.

"So where we going first Shar?" Martha asked.

"Well first, we need to go get on the underground and then we're going on the London Eye!" Sharpay squealed.

"Oh my gosh" The rest of the girls squealed as they all made their way to find the tube station.

"Later we'll be coming back along here for shopping" Shar said to them as they walked down Oxford Street.

"I feel as if I'm gonna loose you all, theres so many people!" Taylor laughed as they then all linked arms, not caring how ridiculous they looked.

They finally made it on to the London Eye, the view so beautiful, as it was a cloudy day all of the Christmas lights were on, lighting up every building in London.

"Hey can you take a picture of us please?" Sharpay asked a random woman standing near them.

"Sure" The woman said before taking the picture, the girls all posed in front of the view, the lights glowing behind them.

"Perfect" Sharpay said as the woman handed back Sharpays phone and camera. "This is so going on Instagram and Facebook".

"Excuse me girls, who did your makeup and picked out that amazing outfit you're both wearing?" A woman in a long black shift dress asked me and Sharpay as we sat down for a moment to look at all the pictures we had taken.

"Uh we did it ourselves, my outfits just a simple Ratchet jumper with my Gucci skinny jeans and vans, oh and my chanel rucksack, my makeups just light, using the urban decay pallet and Nars foundation" Gabriella answered first.

"And mines just all Mac makeup, a h&m shirt and Ralph Lauren sweater with Chanel jeans, pink converse and a Louis Vuitton bag" Sharpay answered after.

"You girls sure know your fashion, maybe you'd like to come up to our studios soon, I work for Cosmopolitan magazine as a Photographer and journalist" The woman said.

Gabriella and Sharpay stood in shock "We literally buy every issue of Cosmo"! They both squealed.

"Well I'm Jessica, I'd love to talk to you both maybe about applying for a job, we'd love to have two young girls like you with us" Jessica said shaking their hands.

"I'm Sharpay, and this is Gabriella we're actually still in school" Sharpay smiled sadly.

"Well give me a call in any time you have off and when you're looking for a job just come up to our studios" Jessica said handing them both a business card each, as soon as she walked away to take photographs, Gabriella and Sharpay both screamed and hugged eachothers, Kelsi, Martha and Taylor all came rushing over and Sharpay and Gabriella explained the whole story.

Finally it was nearly time to get off of the London Eye, but Sharpay had noticed the sneaky camera at the end to take pictures of every pod.

"Hey girls, lets pose for the camera!" Sharpay squealed as they all posed as the flash went off, brilliant timing.

As they all got off of the pod they walked over to the stall selling the photographs of each pod, each buying a copy for themselves.

"Where to next then Shar?" Kelsi asked curiously.

"Hyde park winter wonderland of course!" Sharpay said leading them back to the tube.

 **HSM HSM HSM HSM HSM**

Finally they were inside Hyde Parks winter wonderland after an hour of queuing up outside.

"So what should we go on first?" Sharpay asked the girls excitedly.

"I wanna go on the carousel!" Gabriella clapped happily.

"You guys go on, I'll take pictures" Martha said taking their phones and bags as they got on the ride, Gabriella and Kelsi on one horse and Sharpay and Taylor on another.

"This has actually been one of the best days ever" Gabriella said to Kelsi as they went around, waving and posing every time they went past Martha.

"I know, we should all do this more regularly, since we've been involved with boys we haven't seen each other as much" Kelsi pouted.

"We should all go to Essex for New years eve with the guys too" Gabriella suggested.

"Definitely, I really want to spend as much time with you guys before we all go our separate ways"

"Ah I'm gonna miss you guys" Gabriella said sadly.

Finally they got off and walked around amazed at all the huge amazing rides. "Ooh lets go on the Wilde Maus xxl!" Sharpay squealed as she saw it, it was one of the biggest rides there and looked absolutely terrifying.

"I think I'm just gonna stay here and take pictures" Kelsi muttered.

"Me too" Taylor agreed with her.

"Lets go girls" Martha said to Gabriella and Sharpay as they queued up, finally they made it on, having to sit in a 4 seater cart with Gabriella and Martha at the front and Sharpay sitting behind as she was the loudest screamer the other two refused to sit next to her.

Taylor and Kelsi took a few pictures of them before walking off due to boredness. Though on the ride Martha and Gabriella were right not to sit next to Sharpay as she really was a screamer.

"THIS IS FUCKING AMAZING" Sharpay yelled as they went down and then up again. Once they got off they noticed another booth to buy photos of them on the ride, it was actually a funny picture; Gabriella and Martha were both holding hands screaming whilst Sharpay had hers eyes closed and her mouth wide open, they all decided to buy one each.

They finally found Kelsi and Taylor hovering around the fun house.

"Have you guys just been in there?" Martha asked laughing.

"Nooooo" Taylor said defensively.

"Wanna go in again?" Gabriella asked laughing.

"Why not" Taylor said, they all starting laughing.

Inside being their vain selves they took many many pictures on cameras and phones; pictures of them in the halls of mirrors, the ball pits, the foam blocks and everything else. Gabriella had completely forgotten about Troy, she was finally happy.

"Lets go on the power tower next!" Sharpay said dragging them all over to it, a huge ride that went up and down veeeryyy fastly.

"I think I'll go on this one" Kelsi said bravely.

"Me too" Gabriella said

"Me three" Sharpay said looking towards Taylor and Martha who just shook their heads. "Take pictures then" Sharpay said before walking towards the ride with Gabriella and Kelsi.

Once they were on Kelsi immediately regretted being brave, she hated rides completely.

"Omfg I'm gonna die" Kelsi moaned quietly, Gabriella who was sitting next to her squeezed her hand gently as the ride started.

"WOOOOO" Sharpay screamed throughout along with many others.

"This is amazing!" Kelsi yelled to Gabriella, being up so high also meant they could see half of London.

Once they were off the ride Kelsi no longer regretted going on, she'd never really tried rides but they always looked too scary.

"I wanna go on again!" Kelsi said as they made their way back over to Taylor and Martha.

"Says the girl that thought she was gonna die" Gabriella teased.

"Okay, one last ride for us to go on before we have lunch and then go elsewhere" Sharpay smiled excitedly, the next thing they were about to do was guaranteed to be a huge success with the other girls.

"The winter wonderland star flyer?" Gabriella asked as they walked up to it.

"Yes, and I want us all to go on it" Sharpay demanded half jokingly.

"But who's gonna stay down here and take your pictures?" Taylor mocked.

"The camera on the ride" Sharpay smirked back, they all laughed.

The ride was a lot better than Taylor expected it, it wasn't fast at all, but beautiful. It showed the whole of London lit up and it was completely peaceful.

Afterwards they all went to a smaller cafe nearer to the edge of the park, once they'd ordered hot chocolates and hot meals they all sat down at a table of 5.

"You know Gabi came up with a great idea earlier" Kelsi said smiling.

"What was it?" Sharpay asked.

"Well I think we should all go to Essex for New years eve, proper, new years eve style it will be nice to remember before we all go off to college and uni" Gabriella sighed.

"Fab idea Gabs, but who says we'll all go to different places, I told you at least one of you would be stuck with me forever" Sharpay said with a wink.

"I just hope we all end up living near each other" Taylor spoke up "I don't know what I'd do without any of you".

"Its been almost 15 years since I've known and loved all of you girls to pieces" Sharpay said with a smile, she really meant it.

"You guys are gonna make me cry in a minute!" Martha smiled softly.

"I wonder where we're gonna be in 10 years time" Kelsi replied thoughtfully.

"Hopefully all near eachother" Gabriella sighed.

"Of course, you know after we're all settled down we should go travelling together" Sharpay suggested.

"Definitely" The other girls agreed with her.

Once they'd finished their meals they finally headed to Sharpay's surprise venue, Hyde park's amazing winter wonderland iceskating rink. When they got there they all squealed excitedly, Gabriella had always wanted to go ice skating and Sharpay had known that.

"Picture infront of the rink" Sharpay demanded as she got a random man to take a picture of them all. They put on the ice skates given to them and headed out onto the rink.

"I can just tell I'm gonna fall over" Gabriella said to Sharpay.

"So lets get that good looking worker to help us out?" Sharpay winked suggestively as Gabriella rolled her eyes. Sharpay called the helper over and he guided Gabriella and Sharpay around the rink. Gabriella tripped over her own skate and went flying, bringing Sharpay and the poor poor helper flying after her. Martha, Taylor and Kelsi were all in fits, bringing out their cameras and taking pictures.

The rest of the hour was spent trying and failing to skate and full of pictures taken by Sharpay. Finally they were on a bus back to Oxford street ready for some shopping, by now it was 5pm and all the streets were lit up festively with pretty, colourful lights all around.

"So what shops should we go to, we have an hour before we need to go back"

"Uh I wanna go to Hmv, h&m, topshop and river island" Kelsi said first.

"I'm the same as Kelsi really" Martha said too.

"I wanna go to Boots, La senza, the usual fashion shops, forever 21, urban outfitters, john lewis and hamleys" Gabriella answered.

"I'll go with Gabs and Tay to our shops, then meet you by my car in an hour okay?" Sharpay asked before they all nodded and set off.

An hour later each girl had at least 10 bags each and at least 20 items of clothing too, all shopped out they headed home. First to drop off Kelsi, then Martha and Taylor before Sharpay dropped off Gabriella.

"Thanks for today Shar" Gabriella said leaning over and giving her best friend a huge hug.

"Hey no problem, anything to see my best friend smile again" Sharpay replied honestly, making Gabriella smile even more.

"See you on the 27th Shar" Gabriella said before her best friend drove off.

Nothing could upset her now.

 **CHRISTMAS DAY!**

"Mama mama wake up!" Gabriella shouted as she woke up the next morning.

"Gabby, whats the time" Her mother moaned from the next room.

"7am, mum its snowing outside!" Gabriella cheered as she opened the curtains, Maria and her boyfriend walked down the stairs in their dressing gowns to check this out for them selves, as they opened the door their mouths hung open, everything was completely white.

"We'll make some tea before we open our presents, okay mija?"

"Fine" Gabriella said cuddling under a blanket in her christmas pyjamas in the living room. Once they were all gathered in the living room the present opening began.

Maria's boyfriend getting a few t-shirts, dvds, a mug and the usual presents an older person might get. Maria getting some jewelry, perfume and a few cds, again the same thing an older person might get.

Finally it was Gabriella's turn to open her presents, as her dad couldn't be there he'd dropped off presents then. First she opened the smaller ones being perfumes, dvds and her favourite chocolates, her mum not allowing her to open the huge one yet. Next was from her grandparents and uncle; bags, designer clothing and an Iphone 5. From her Mum and her mum's boyfriend she got an Ipad, clothes and makeup. Finally it was time to open her present from her dad, once she'd unwrapped it, it was in a small jewelry box and inside was a set of keys with a Fiat 500 keyring attached.

"OH MY GOD!" Gabriella cried as she realised what her present was, she rushed to her home phone and dialed her dad's number.

"Merry christmas Gabby" Her dad said through the phone.

"Happy christmas daddy, thanks so much for my car" She said full of joy.

"Its fine, I'm guessing you have snow too so you can't test it, but I hope you like it!" Her dad said before they said their goodbyes.

She then called her other family members and thanked them for various items they'd given her. Finally she had time to play with her new phone, setting her sim card into the phone she began texting her friends;

 **To all selected (Shar, Tay, Kels, Martha, Chad, Ry, Jase, Ellie, Zeke); Merry Christmas guys, what did you all get love you all x x**

Not long afterwards she got a few replies;

 **Shar: Merry Christmas G, got new clothes, latest Iphone, makeup, money (not that I need anymore ahah!) and pink macbook from daddy, still got tons more to open, what did you get?x x**

 **Gabi: Finally got my new Fiat 500 in mint blue! Iphone, Ipad and clothes, I'm still in shock:') x x**

 **Shar: OMFG I won't have to drive you around all the time now;) x x**

 **Gabi: Excuse me you're the one that forces me to go places with you:o x x**

 **Shar: hehe, gotta go now, present time! x x**

 **Chad: happy christmas Gabster, got concert tickets, football tickets and money what bout yu?:-)**

 **Gabi: Got my car! And a new Iphone(:**

 **Chad: Get ready to drive me to my football games then;)**

 **Gabi: Only if I get a ticket too!:)**

 **Chad: Don't count on it Gabster!x**

 **Kels: GABBY I FINALLY GOT MY DJ SET AND IPAD! Oh and merry christmas! x x x**

 **Gabi: so happy for you, I got my car! x x x**

 **Kels: Woo I'm happy for you too x x x**

 **Troy: Merry Christmas Gabs x**

 **Gabi: Merry Christmas to you too Troy, and Vanessa.**

 **Troy: You'll have to tell her yourself, I broke up with her**

 **Gabi: Sorry to hear.**

 **Troy: No you're not**

 **Gabi: Very true(:**

 **Troy: Who's the smartass now;)**

 **Gabi: Still me!**

Gabriella had received various other messages from other people, but the only ones that seemed to matter were Troy's.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Gabi wake up" Maria said as she shook her daughter.

"Whaat?" Gabriella moaned as she opened her eyes.

"Mark and I have to go to work, sorry sweetie"

"But its boxing day and there's loads of snow outside" Gabriella pouted.

"Roads have been cleared, I'm really sorry but I have to go" Maria kissed Gabriella on the forehead before she turned to leave.

A few minutes later Gabriella finally made it out of her bed and found her phone.

 **To Shar: What are you doing today, empty house x x**

 **Shar: Sorry gotta go to the club to see the staff and then to grandparents see you tomorrow tho x x**

 **Gabi: Totally fine have fun x x**

 **To Ellie: What you up to today, got an empty house x x**

 **Ellie: With family sorry xxx**

 **Gabi: Oh totally fine, have fun x x**

Gabriella sighed, all her friends seemed to be busy and having fun with their families, except her. Finally giving up on all her friends she fell back asleep on her sofa.

An hour later she was woken up by a loud knock on the door, she quickly shot up and ran to her door. Opening it to find a very covered in snow Troy and a bag of gifts.

"Troy?" She asked in shock.

"I owe you an explanation and an apology" He said walking into her house and making his way to her living room.

"Come in then" She called sarcastically as she shut her door and made her way to her living room where Troy had already taken a seat.

"How did you know my Mum wouldn't be here?" Gabriella asked as she sat next to him.

"Ellie texted, I've really needed to talk to you"

"Why?"

"About the whole Vanessa situation" Troy said holding Gabriella's hands in his lap, Gabriella felt herself getting angrier as she heard that bitches name.

Troy continued "Just listen please, when you turned up at my door the first time she'd literally arrived 5 minutes before and woken me up, that explains the whole reason I was in my boxers, but uh the whole reason I had to get back with her because I owed her money".

"That still doesn't explain why you had to get back with her" Gabriella snapped a little too harshly than she meant to.

"I'm getting to that, when I got out of Uni I had no where to live and at the time she was my girlfriend, she lent me £5000 so I could sort my life out, find somewhere to live, get a good job, I didn't wanna go back home to my mum I'd seem like a failure and then she turned up at my house last month asking for her money back, I didn't have it so she told me if I couldn't get it in 24 hours I'd have to go back out with her".

"What kind've twisted bitch does that?"

"That's what she does, but I sold some of my stuff, had some money saved up already and paid her, she's gone for good I promise" Troy kissed her hands.

"How do I know your not lying?"

"Because I love you" Troy could barely finish before Gabriella's lips were on his.

"So whats in the bag?" Gabriella giggled softly.

"Just a few presents, I don't know if you're ready for them yet" Troy winked.

"Stay right there" Gabriella yelled as she rushed upstairs, grabbed a bag and ran back down the stairs.

"Whats that?"

"Before we uh broke up I bought you your presents but I just couldn't seem to return them" Gabriella said feeling shy.

For the rest of the morning they sat opening presents, making out, opening presents and well more making out. But the present that stood out the most to Gabriella was a sweet pandora charm bracelet he'd bought her, picking out all the charms himself.

"I better get back to my family" Troy sighed getting up and heading to her front door.

"See you soon?" Gabriella asked kissing him softly.

"What are you doing New years eve?"

"Going up to Essex with all my friends"

"Shame, I'll see you after?"

"Definitely" Gabriella said feeling her heart sink a little bit.

The rest of the day Gabriella spent alone, but it didn't really bother her now she'd seen Troy.

Gabriella was excited, her first drive in her new car had been successful and she'd picked up all the girls to head to Sharpay's to give each other their christmas gifts.

From Kelsi Gabriella had received a nice bath and makeup set, from Martha she'd got a cute bag and makeup, from Taylor she got a framed picture of the both of them with her favourite chocolates and from Sharpay she got perfumes, chocolates and a huge photo album of all the photos from London, she'd given one to each girl.

The rest of the day went pretty quickly, they all planned what they were going to wear on New years eve and then got themselves all over excited.

Finally Gabriella, Sharpay, Kelsi, Martha and Taylor were all piled into Gabriella's little Fiat 500, ready to party Essex style. In Ryan's car were Ryan (obviously), Chad, Zeke, Kyle (Martha's boyfriend) and Aaron who'd become a very good friend to the group, they'd all grown very fond of him. But there was still another car that Gabriella had no clue about, she knew Jason and Ellie would be coming up to but not by a car and not with an extremely special person inside that car.

Once the girls had arrived at around 7pm, they immediately checked into their rooms, there was one for each couple. Now it was time to get ready, all the girls brought their makeup and outfits to Sharpays room to get ready. A good 2 hours later they were finally ready; Gabriella in her short red dress she wore on her first date with Troy, Sharpay wearing a short, bright pink dress, Kelsi wearing a cute navy blue dress and Martha and Taylor were wearing similar black dresses. The girls left first and met the guys at the club.

Now everyone was in their couples, Gabriella was left all on her own, not noticing Troy behind her she went to sit at the bar and ordered a Smirnoff Ice, downing it quickly.

"Should you be drinking it that quickly?" Troy asked laughing.

Gabriella turned to see Troy right in front of her before practically pouncing on him.

"Its nice to see you too" Troy said still chuckling.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here to spend New years eve with you, a fresh new start" He replied before kissing her again.

"You know, I think I love you too" Gabriella giggled against his lips.

"Just an I think?" Troy muttered winking.

"I definitely love you?" Gabriella asked laughing as his face lit up.

"You don't" kiss "even know" kiss "how much" kiss "I've missed you" Troy said in between each kiss.

"I saw you the other day Troy" Gabriella smiled.

"We should never be apart that long" He winked going up to the bar to buy them more drinks.

It was now approaching midnight and the countdown had begun "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Happy new years!" Everyone in the club cheered as they all kissed their partners.

"This year is for us" Troy whispered softly into Gabriella's ear after they pulled away from each other's lips.

"Take me back to the hotel?" She asked, wanting to spend time alone with Troy. They all said goodbye to their friends and called a taxi back to the hotel, finally they were in their room alone.

They both stripped down to their underwear before climbing onto the bed.

Gabriella whispered softly into his ear "I I'm ready"

"Are you sure?" Troy asked gently, wrapping an arm around her.

"Definitely, I love you and I completely trust you" She smiled.

Troy quickly got out of bed and pulled a condom out of his bag.

"Knew you were gonna get lucky?" Gabriella asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, just wanted to be ready for whenever you were ready" Troy smiled and got back into bed, laying on top of Gabriella but not putting his whole weight on top of her, slowly leaning down to kiss her softly.

"Do you know how beautiful you are" Troy muttered peppering kisses all over her body.

"I'm not" Gabriella blushed, Troy stopped kissing her and looked straight up at her.

"You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and ever will see" Troy said kissing her again.

That night Gabriella truly felt beautiful.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"I can't believe its almost valentines day already" Gabriella said to Troy as she poured some pasta in a pan to cook it, they were both at her house enjoying a nice night alone, Gabriella's mum and her boyfriend were away on business meetings.

"Yeah, only a week away, so what you getting me?" Troy asked watching her intently as she pottered around the kitchen getting their dinner ready.

"Hmm, nothing" She joked as Troy pouted playfully.

"But Gab, I already got your present" He said wrapping his arms around her from behind her as he began kissing her neck.

Gabriella moaned involuntarily as he ran his hand further up her top.

"Troyyy stop it" She moaned.

"Do you really want me to stop?" He grinned against her neck.

"Noo, but if you don't the pasta will go all yucky" Gabriella complained before he finally let go. "Now go and sit down, I'll bring it in for you when its ready" Gabriella said sternly, Troy feigned sadness before he went back into the living room.

10 minutes later Gabriella walked back in holding two plates of Springtime spaghetti and meatballs.

"Mm, smells good" Troy said licking his lips as she handed him a plate.

"Its basically the only thing I can make so it should be" Gabriella said laughing.

"Not true, you made breakfast at mine on our first date" Troy smiled gently as he took a bite.

"That doesn't count, that's breakfast" Gabriella said turning the tv on "What do you wanna watch?"

"How I met your mother on?" Troy asked as Gabriella found it.

"Baby, this is delicious" Troy complimented as he dribbled.

"I'm glad" Gabriella smiled as she wiped his mouth with a tissue. "You're like a baby" She giggled as Troy frowned jokingly, she kissed his frown away and returned to eating.

"So you nervous about parents evening on Monday?" Troy asked curiously.

"Not really, its actually kinda boring" Gabriella said thoughtfully as she ate.

"Only because you're a genius" Troy teased with a smile.

"So will I be getting a good report from you?" She asked winking.

"Always baby, always".

Once they finished their dinner they then curled up on the sofa watching tv and relaxing in eachothers company.

"I wish this moment could last forever" Gabriella whispered softly, mainly to herself.

"Me too" Troy said kissing her hair, just the smell of her was intoxicating to him.

Suddenly their perfect moment was interrupted by Gabriella's phone.

"Hey mama" Gabriella sighed agitatedly as she answered the phone.

"Hey mija, I'm almost home I'll be there in a minute, can you put the kettle on for me?"

"Oh sure, bye mama" Gabriella hung up quicky before yelling "SHIT you need to go"

"What why?" Troy asked partly worried and partly upset.

"My mum's like just around the corner"

"Oh shit" He complained. Gabriella went to open the door but saw her mum parking right outside her house.

"Go up to my bedroom quickly" Gabriella demanded as she shut the door and threw Troy's coat at him as he ran upstairs, she quickly rushed into the kitchen to put the kettle on before clearing up their plates.

"Hi Gabby" Maria said as she walked in.

"Hey mama"

"Have you eaten already? I can make dinner if you want"

"Made spaghetti, there's some leftovers in the fridge" Gabriella said before rushing upstairs.

"Thanks sweetie smells lovely" Maria said as she walked into the kitchen.

Gabriella made her way up to her bedroom to find Troy looking through her London photo album.

"You liked London?"

"Loved it, its so beautiful, who said you could look through that?" Gabriella teased as she took the album off of him

Instead of replying, he stood up and pulled her close, bringing their lips together. Her hands immediately went to his hair, tugging on in gently whilst his hands went under her top, teasing the skin underneath gently. She moaned into his mouth before pulling away to pull her top off, throwing it anywhere. Troy hardened at the sight of her in her black lacy bra and his eyes immediately darkened. She noticed this and pulled him against her, he picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"What if your mum walks in?" Troy asked, breaking the kiss.

"Doors locked" Gabriella smirked.

"I don't even care why right now" He said laughing.

"Because I'm a good girl" She whispered seductively.

Still holding her tightly against him, he laid her gently onto the bed, he gently laid part of his weight on top of her. Hovering over her, he began placing kisses along her jaw and her hands moved to squeeze his ass. He moved down her jaw, then down her neck, and then down her chest, raising her up slightly as he undid her bra, he pulled it off of her and threw it somewhere in the room. He worked his way back up to her lips and kissed her softly.

She rolled them over so she was on top of him, her lips locked his again and she gently ran her hands down his chest, making him groan. As she kissed him, she reached under her and undid his pants, sliding both them and his boxers down. She pulled apart from him and slid down. She looked up at him with a slightly seductive gaze, before taking his erection deep into her mouth. Now it was his turn to groan.

"Ugh, Gabriella." He moaned in pleasure. Gabriella giggled, releasing him and pressing kisses all around his hard member.

He rolled them back over, he slipped his hand down her shorts and under her panties, pushing a finger into her wet heat. She groaned louder as he inserted another one. He pulled out of her only to take off her shorts. Once he threw them on the ground, he began kissing her thighs, slowly inching closer to her hot center. "Oh Troy" she moaned.

He slipped two fingers under the waistband of her panties and pulled them down, sliding them down her long, tanned legs. He placed a kiss to her entrance before his tongue dove in. She groaned even louder this time, and her hands went straight to his hair. Her fingers roaming around in it. She felt her walls tighten, and she moaned in complete pleasure as her orgasm came. Troy sat up and kissed her as she road out her waves of pleasure.

When they pulled apart and her breathing returned to normal, she sat up and grabbed a condom out of her drawer, he placed it on his hard member before he entered her. His erection filled her and she let out a moan of pleasure. He started off slow, thrusting faster and faster. Gabriella moaned and cried "faster, faster" he took her cue and began thrusting faster. Slight screams began escaping her lips and soft curses left Troys lips. Troy began stroking her clit, and she cried out loudly "Oh Troy!" With that cry, she came a second time, clutching him as the fireworks were set off in her body. The sound of her moaning and the sight of her falling apart brought him to his own release.

"That was amazing" Troy sighed with pleasure as he rolled off of her and threw the condom in the bin.

"Mmm, definitely" She said as she got up and threw his shirt on before putting a dressing gown over the top.

"Where you going?" He asked as she unlocked her door.

"Down to see my mama quickly" As Gabriella crept into the living room she noticed her mum in a deep sleep on the sofa, luckily she hadn't heard anything.

Gabriella snuck back upstairs to Troy, and they both soon fell asleep after a good night.

Life couldn't get much better.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Thank you for seeing us" Maria said to Gabriella's English teacher.

"No, thank you Ms Montez, Gabriella has been an absolute delight to teach and I've enjoyed every minute, I have every faith in her" Gabriella's English teacher said before they shook hands and said their goodbyes.

"Who do we have to see next?" Maria asked.

Gabriella's breath hitched when she saw who was next "Uh Mr Bolton, RE".

"You like him don't you?"

"Huh what?!" Gabriella asked startled.

"Last year you hated RE, this year you've liked it"

"Oh yeah, he's a good teacher"Gabriella smirked to herself.

"Gabi!" Sharpay screamed from across the hall.

"Shar!" Gabriella yelled as Sharpay and a very tired Mrs Evans made their way over to Gabriella and Maria.

"Hey Maria" Darby said.

"Hey Dar!" Maria said hugging Darby before they sat down to talk about womanly stuff, much like Gabriella and Sharpay they were the best of friends.

"So who've you got next?" Sharpay asked curiously.

"Troy" Gabriella said with a smile.

"You nervous?"

"Uhm not about what he's gonna say, but more about the fact he's gonna meet my mama and what if I mess up and say something by mistake" Gabriella sighed.

"Gabs, it's gonna be fine just don't speak" Sharpay laughed slightly.

"Come on Mija, we gotta go to your next appointment"

Sharpay pulled Gabriella into a quick hug and whispered softly "It'll be fine, promise"

"Bye Shar, Bye Dar" Gabriella and Maria both said before they walked off.

"Ah you must be Ms Montez, hello Gabriella" Troy shook both their hands, lingering on Gabriella's.

"Call me Maria"

"Well Maria, you've probably heard this from everyone here but it has been an absolute pleasure to teach and to know your daughter, we did have to move her down at one point, not due to her own fault but to help out Sharpay Evans but she actually managed to get them both moved up which was.. impressive, she's perfect, her classwork is absolutely perfect" Troy said causing Gabriella to blush slightly, he rubbed his foot against hers to let her know he missed her.

"Well that's incredible, you know last year she hated RE, always moaned and complained but this year she's enjoyed every minute of it" Gabriella blushed even more.

"Mum!"

"It was lovely to meet you Maria, I'll see you Friday Gabriella" Troy said not just meaning in his RE class, they all stood up and he shook their hands politely before Maria went off to find where to go next.

"GABI!" Taylor's 3 year old sister yelled running up to Gabriella.

"Hey, here's my little princess Melissa" Gabriella smiled picking Melissa up and spinning her around.

"Gwabi I wuv you"

"Love you too MelMel" Gabriella smiled as she tickled her.

"Who's this?" Troy asked standing up from his seat.

"Taylor's little sister Melissa, say hi Melissa" Gabriella instructed, just like a mother.

"Hwi" Melissa said shyly.

"Hello" Troy smiled gently, Melissa opened her arms up for a hug, Troy picked her up gently.

"Well aren't you precious" He smiled handing her back to Gabriella.

"She's a beauty isn't she?" Gabriella said smiling at Melissa who was playing with Gabriella's hair.

"Definitely" Troy said staring at Gabriella.

"There you are!" Chad said appearing.

"Chad, what are you doing here?" Gabriella asked in surprise.

"I was meant to be looking after Melissa whilst Tay had her appointments"

"Here you go" Gabriella handed Melissa over to Chad.

"Thanks Gabster, I owe you" Chad hugged Gabriella with Melissa in his arms.

"Oh and this is Troy" Gabriella whispered, not wanting anyone around them to hear.

"I know, we met briefly on New Years Eve"

"Oh, well I'll see you all later" Gabriella said hugging Chad and smiling at Troy, though she very much wanted to kiss him.

"Bye" Troy said smiling after her.

"You're well in there man" Chad whispered to Troy.

 **Friday - Valentines Day!**

"Morning beautiful" Troy said as Gabriella answered her phone.

"Hello you" Gabriella smiled through the phone.

"Happy valentines day"

"Happy valentines day to you too"

"So you ready for tonight?"

"Only if you tell me what we're doing" Gabriella sighed.

"No, now what would be the fun in that?"

"I would know what to wear!" Gabriella exclaimed, pretending to be furious.

"Baby, you look good in anything, now I gotta go see you in a while" Troy said seriously.

"Love you, bye".

A little while later Troy and Gabriella were giving secret looks to each other in RE.

"As today is Valentines Day and I'm a nice guy, I've decided to give you an easy lesson and you can never be too old for colouring and wordsearch's can you?" Troy asked laughing, the class just laughed with him and agreed.

"So Mr Bolton, anyone special this valentines day?" Sharpay asked teasingly.

"Oh someone very special" He smiled slightly at Gabriella.

"Anyone special for you this valentines day Gabriella?" Ellie asked teasing her.

"Hmm I guess" Gabriella pretended to look uninterested.

"Poor guy" Troy muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"Oh very" She winked slightly.

After a very interesting lunchtime with her group and Troy, Gabriella was finally only a lesson away from her evening with Troy.

"Mrs Cartwright, can I go to the toilets please?" Gabriella asked once she'd finished the work.

"Sure, the main building ones are blocked at the moment, you're gonna have to go to the C block toilets"

"Okay thanks" Gabriella said before she whispered something to Sharpay "Yes Shar you can copy my work".

Gabriella had finally got across to the toilets from her class, when the fire alarm went off. Though it couldn't be heard from the toilets.

"Girls, get in a line and follow me" Mrs Cartwright said to her group.

Once they were outside Sharpay realised Gabriella still hadn't gotten back, she quickly ran over to Troy.

"Is this a practise?!" She demanded to know immediately.

"I'm not sure, why?"

"Gabriella's not back yet, and you know she'd be out here if she knew!"

"Where did she go?" Troy panicked at the thought of Gabriella hurt.

"Toilets in the C block" Sharpay said just before Troy went running to the C block, once he was in he realised that the alarm wasn't going off he panicked even more, still unsure whether it was a practise or not.

"Gabriella?" He called knocking on the girls bathroom door.

"Tro- Mr Bolton?" She asked as she opened the door.

"I'm so glad you're alive" He said hugging her gently.

"What?" She asked quite scared.

"Fire alarms going off, come on!" He said dragging her off.

"I'm just so glad you're not hurt" He whispered as they approached everyone else on the grass.

"GABI!" Sharpay said rushing over to her and almost flattening her.

"Whoah Shar" Gabriella laughed.

"It was only a test, its fine" Troy informed them, smiling at Gabriella.

"Never go to the toilet again, okay Gabs?!"

"Okay Shar, whatever you say"

Eventually they were let out of school and Gabriella had to rush home as quickly as she could to get ready for her date with Troy. Even though she had no idea as to where she was going she picked out her short red skater dress with some red and gold accessories, leaving her makeup fairly natural and her hair in a curly, messy bun.

A few hours later there was a knock at the door, Gabriella opened it to a stunned Troy.

"Baby, you look absolutely beautiful" He kissed her cheek before handing her some beautiful dark red roses.

"Troy" She gushed before taking the roses.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked softly.

"Yeah" She said grabbing her bag and closing her front door.

"Will you tell me where we're going now?" She asked as she glanced at him, he was wearing a full black suit with a white shirt so she'd clearly made a good choice of outfit.

"No" He said with a smile as they got into his car.

About 10 minutes later they arrived at a carpark by the side of a hill which was completely deserted. Troy quickly got out a picnic basket and a blanket and trudged up the hill. Gabriella had a bit of difficulty in her heels but eventually made it up there. Troy set down the picnic basket and brought out some candles to light them. Finally they were sat down together and looking over the whole of Dover lit up, it was beautiful.

"This is amazing Troy" Gabriella sighed contently.

"Good, exactly how I wanted it to be" He said rubbing her hand gently, Gabriella moved closer to him and cuddled into his side as they laid down.

"You know, before I met you I was this cynical, unloving man, I thought that love was completely stupid and that I'd never be happy but then you came along and you changed me completely, I've never been so happy and so in love, I've never met anyone quite like you" Troy said passionately as he kissed her softly, she began welling up.

"I really don't know what I'd do without you" Gabriella whispered gently against his lips.

"Well I guess it's a good thing you'll never have to know" He said kissing her temple before carrying on talking "How about we start on the food?"

"Sure" Gabriella said reaching to open the basket before Troy swatted her hand away.

"Let me do that" Troy said as he brought out plates and food.

For the next half an hour they ate, fed eachother and just enjoyed each other's company.

Troy stood up and held out his hand to Gabriella "Dance with me?"

Gabriella took his hand and stood up, Troy got out his Ipod and pressed play on a song before taking her hand and dancing around their picnic basket on top of the hill;

 **Oh, her eyes, her eyes**

 **Make the stars look like they're not shinin'**

 **Her hair, her hair**

 **Falls perfectly without her trying**

 **She's so beautiful**

 **And I tell her everyday**

 **Yeahh**

 **I know, I know**

 **When I compliment her she won't believe me**

 **And it's so, it's so**

 **Sad to think that she don't see what I see**

 **But every time she asks me "Do I look okay? "**

 **I say**

 **When I see your face**

 **There's not a thing that I would change**

 **'Cause you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **And when you smile**

 **The whole world stops and stares for a while**

 **'Cause girl you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **Yeah**

 **Her lips, her lips**

 **I could kiss them all day if she'd let me**

 **Her laugh, her laugh**

 **She hates but I think it's so sexy**

 **She's so beautiful**

 **And I tell her everyday**

 **Oh you know, you know, you know**

 **I'd never ask you to change**

 **If perfect's what you're searching for**

 **Then just stay the same**

 **So don't even bother asking if you look okay**

 **You know I'll say**

 **When I see your face**

 **There's not a thing that I would change**

 **'Cause you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **And when you smile**

 **The whole world stops and stares for a while**

 **'Cause girl you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **The way you are**

 **The way you are**

 **Girl you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **When I see your face**

 **There's not a thing that I would change**

 **Cause you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

 **And when you smile**

 **The whole world stops and stares for awhile**

 **Cause girl you're amazing**

 **Just the way you are**

"Troy this is all so perfect" Gabriella sighed once the music had stopped.

"Just like you" He whispered stroking her cheek, they sat back down after a bit more dancing, just to the sound of nature.

"Where do you think we'll be in 10 years time?" Gabriella asked thoughtfully.

"Honestly? I don't know, but I know we're gonna be happy, you're gonna have a great job and I'll still be very much in love with you"

Gabriella blushed "You ever think we'll have kids?"

"You want kids?" Troy choked on his drink, before remembering a few days ago seeing her with Melissa, he knew she would make a good mum but he wasn't sure he really wanted kids at all.

"Yeah, I'd only want one though, do you want kids?" She asked feeling more nervous, she'd always imagined that a kid would be in her future.

"No, I'm not really much of a kid person" He sighed, knowing he'd upset her slightly.

"Oh"

For a few minutes they were both very silent, Troy knew he'd hurt her but there was nothing he could think of to say to make her feel better, finally he broke the silence.

"You know, I think its time for your presents" Troy said with a smile.

"You already gave me flowers, that's all I need" She smiled back slightly.

"First you can have this one" Troy handed her a huge box.

"Troy! How did you know I liked these?!" Gabriella asked as she opened it to see a huge box of her favourite Guylian Seashell chocolates.

"The empty box in your bedroom gave it away"

"Oh Troy I love you" She hugged him.

"I love you too, and anyway that's only the small present!"

"With flowers and chocolates, what else could I possibly want?"

"This" Troy said, Gabriella looked up at him he was on one knee holding a beautiful blue sapphire ring on.

"Troy?!" Gabriella began to well up.

"Its not an engagement ring, just a promise ring, to promise that one day I'll have a proper ring to go on your finger and I'll give you anything you want, anything you ask for, because I love you more than anything on this world and you have to admit Gabriella Bolton sounds pretty good" He said, almost welling up himself.

Gabriella stood in shock before she held out her ring finger as Troy slipped the ring on.

"It fits perfectly" She smiled as he stood up and kissed her, he picked her up gently as she wrapped her legs around his waist, its almost as if someone from the heavens was watching, rain immediately poured down, soaking both of them, they simply laughed as they played in the rain.

As they moved their picnic basket to shelter under the tree Gabriella reached for her phone to check her messages;

 **Shar: I'm so happy for you Gabs, and Zeke is too!3**

 **Ry: Me and Kels both say congrats Gabi x x x**

 **Chad: Happy for you Gabster x x**

 **Tay: Congratulations Gabs!3**

 **Martha: OMG GABI CONGRATS x x**

 **El: So glad you and Troy are happy, love you both to pieces from el and jas**

Gabriella smiled at the messages before she realised she hadn't told any of them yet.

"How do all my friends know?!" Gabriella asked Troy in shock.

"Well uh at the parents evening when you left me and Chad, I told him and I asked him for help so he called Sharpay, all of your friends forced me to go there and they helped me practise, they're pretty cool" Hearing this Gabriella felt a rush of relief run through her, apart from Troy her friends were her most favourite people in the world, she was so glad they all got on.

"You know, I almost forgot to give you your present" Gabriella squealed reaching for her bag, she handed him a rounded present first of all.

Troy opened it, his eyes widening in shock "Gabriella, how did you get this?!" He asked looking down at the basketball signed by the one and only Lebron James.

"My mum and Mark travel a lot on their jobs and they had tickets to see him play so they went, got him to sign the basketball and they don't particularly love basketball and I told them I had a friend who loved it so they said I could give it to him, which was clearly you" Gabriella explained smiling at his reaction.

"Honestly Gabriella, you are amazing"

A few more hours later they sat in complete darkness, looking down at the lit up streets.

"Perhaps we should go now?" Troy suggested.

"No, its perfect here, I never want this moment to end" Gabriella said lying down, Troy lay down next to her, putting an arm around her.

Eventually they packed their things back into the car and Troy drove Gabriella back home.

"I'll call you tomorrow" Gabriella said leaning over to kiss Troy once more before she got out the car.

"Good, I love you" He called as she walked away.

Gabriella walked into her house to find her mum and Mark cuddled up on the sofa.

"Hey Mama, hey Mark" Gabriella smiled, still feeling as if she was on cloud nine.

"Hey Mija, how was your evening?"

"Amazing" Gabriella said taking her shoes off.

"You're shoes are all muddy, what did you do to them?" Maria and Mark both laughed.

"Oh just went for a walk"

"And what's that on your finger, is that a ring?!"

"Oh yeah, I uhm found it and fell in love with it, pretty isn't it?"

"Ooh pretty, blue sapphire right?"

"Yeah"

"You know blue sapphire is actually used to represent love, loyalty and trust, sweet isn't it"

"Yeah, night Mama, night Mark"

Gabriella made her way upstairs, changing into one of Troy's shirts she climbed into her bed not long before there was a knock on her door.

She went to open her bedroom door and saw that no one was standing there, she heard a knock again. This time she looked round at her balcony, seeing Troy stood there gazing at her.

"Troy, what are you doing here?" She asked with a smile as she opened her door.

"Wanted to be with you, hey is that my shirt you're wearing?!"

Gabriella blushed slightly "Maybe..."

Gabriella climbed into her bed as Troy began to remove his clothing, leaving his boxers he climbed into the other side and began to spoon her.

"Night Gabriella" He whispered gently.

"Night Troy" She said before falling asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Hey Gabs, hey Troy" Taylor greeted as she let them into her house. Tonight they'd all decided to stay at Taylor's as she had a free house so the gang were all invited there instead of Sharpay's for a change.

"Hey Tay" Gabriella said hugging her friend.

"Hi" Troy hugged Taylor too, he'd fitted in really well with her little group, everyone seemed to love him.

Gabriella and Troy set their stuff in the hallway along with everyone elses and made their way to the living room where everyone else was sat waiting for them.

"Gabs Troy, come sit here!" Sharpay called patting the floor next to her.

Gabriella and Troy made their way over and sat with Sharpay.

"GABI!" Gabriella heard a familiar voice as a tiny little person came and sat on her lap.

"Ah my little princess" Gabriella said smiling.

"I think she prefers you to me sometimes" Taylor joked and everyone laughed, since Melissa had began speaking and walking she'd completely adored Gabriella and Gabriella had completely adored her.

Suddenly Melissa climbed off of Gabriella's lap and on to Troy's surprising everyone.

"Hewwo" She said as she cuddled into his lap.

"Hey, little princess"He replied softly stroking her hair, everyone just aw'ed and began talking in little groups.

"She's never done that to anyone, she's usually so shy" Gabriella exclaimed as she rested her head on Troy's shoulder, tickling Melissa softly.

"She's an angel isn't she" Troy said laughing as Melissa began squealing.

"I think she likes you more than she likes me" Gabriella said acting shocked.

"Whats not to love about me?" He said winking at her before their moment was interrupted.

"AWWW look at how cute Gabs, Troy and Mel look!" Sharpay squealed as she pulled out her phone and took a picture of them.

"They're the perfect couple" Taylor agreed before adding "Come on my little Melon, time for you to go to Jenny's, she's here to pick you up".

Finally Melissa was gone after having to be pulled away from Troy, it was only about 8pm so it was still very early for everyone.

"Should we do our usual?" Taylor asked the gang, they all nodded except Troy who just looked confused.

"Whats the usual?" Troy whispered into Gabriella's ear, causing her to shiver at the close contact.

"Spin the bottle, but truth style" Gabriella whispered back, before Gabriella moved in between Troy's legs and she rested her back against his chest. Troy wrapped his arms around her and merged his hands with hers.

Taylor brought out the bottles of vodka and put one in the middle of the group. Taylor was first to spin and it landed on Sharpay.

"Hmm okay Shar, so how many boys have you been with before Zeke?"

"Uh, well there was Luke, George, Mark, Jamie and Jack so 5"

"Drink" Taylor commanded as Sharpay took a shot.

Sharpay then took her go and this time it landed on Jason.

"Out of all the girls here, apart from El who's your favourite girl?"

"Ooh Gabi or Kels!"

"Pick one!" Sharpay demanded.

"Ah Gabi"

"Drink!" The gang cheered as Jason took a shot and span the bottle, this time it landed on Kelsi.

"Weirdest/funniest thing you've ever woken up to?" Jason asked Kelsi.

Kelsi glanced at Ryan and whispered something to him.

"I have to tell them Ry" Kelsi said as Ryan groaned.

"Tell us" Sharpay squealed.

"Well it has to be the time I woke up to Ryan singing and dancing in his yoga outfit to 'Hit the lights' by Selena Gomez" Kelsi said laughing, the rest of the gang began laughing with her as Ryan turned bright red.

"Drink!"

Next to answer a question was Ellie.

"Uh who was your first time with?" Kelsi asked.

"Actually it was Jason" Ellie answered truthfully.

"Thats so sweet" Martha said before yelling "Drink!" Along with the rest of her group.

Then it was Troy's turn to answer a question.

"If you were stuck on an island and could only take one thing, what would it be?"

"My Gabriella, obviously" Troy said as Gabriella snuggled further into him, the group all aw'ed.

"I love you" She whispered softly.

"Love you too" He whispered back before everyone chanted "Drink"

He spun the bottle, this time it landed on Chad.

"What nickname does Taylor have for you?" Troy asked.

"What do you mean?" Chad replied, blushing.

"You know exactly what I mean" Troy said smiling.

"Chaddie waddie" Everyone laughed.

"Don't know what you're laughing at Troysie" Gabriella added in, now it was Troy's turn to blush.

"Yeah and you my Zekeyboo"

"And my Jaseybear"

"Kylie Wylie"

"My cutiepants" Kelsi said, everyone turned to Ryan and laughed even more.

Chad took a shot and then spun the bottle, now landing on Gabriella.

"Impressive thing you can do?" Chad asked.

"I uhm I can actually twerk" Gabriella said laughing.

"Oh boy, yes she can" Troy added as Gabriella blushed.

"Do we really want to know?" Zeke asked raising his eyebrows before Sharpay cut in "Yes we do!".

"Well tough" Gabriella laughed before she drank.

Finally the game came to an end and the group decided to watch a film 'The Notebook'

Towards the end of the film almost everyone that was paying attention was in tears.

Gabriella glanced around the room; Sharpay and Zeke were holding hands and Sharpay cried softly into Zeke's shoulder. Ryan and Kelsi were too busy whispering to eachother to realise how sad the movie actually was, Taylor looked sad but wasn't crying, whereas Chad on the other hand was. Martha and Kyle were staring at each other, Ellie and Jason were asleep and Gabriella could hear Troy sniffing into her hair.

"I think we should all go to bed now" Taylor said softly, glancing at Ellie and Jason.

Gabriella shook Ellie softly "Els, Jay time to go to bed"

"Chad and I will sleep in my parents room, Shar and Zeke you're in my room, Ellie and Jason you're in Jenny's room, Ry and Kels you're in Monica's room, Martha and Kyle you're on the mattress in my room and Troy and Gabs you're in the guest room"

Troy and Gabriella collected their stuff and made their way up to the guest room.

"Nice in here isn't it?" Gabriella asked Troy as they set their stuff down.

"I prefer your room better"

"Why?" Gabriella laughed.

"Because it smells more like you" Troy winked.

"Maybe if you come here you can smell me?" Gabriella said opening her bag and pulling out one of Troy's shirts, Troy took this time to creep over to her, wrapping an arm around from behind her as she stood back up, she groaned as she felt his hardness rub into her butt.

"Troyy" She moaned as he began kissing her neck, she pulled herself away as she began undressing, Troy's eyes were fixed on her as she pulled Troy's shirt over her, wearing nothing underneath.

"Time for bed you" She said as she tapped him on the nose and got into bed. He undressed and got into the other side, cuddling her as soon as he got in.

"Night baby" He whispered gently before they both fell asleep.

Gabriella walked into her new house, one she'd bought with Troy.

"Hey I'm home" Gabriella called expecting to see Troy and her beautiful little baby girl straight away.

Gabriella searched around the ground floor of her house; the living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining room, but there was still no sign of either of them.

Suddenly Gabriella's little girl came running up to her.

"Mummy!" She cried.

"What's up princess?" She picked her daughter up and wiped away her tears.

"Its, its daddy" She wept into Gabriella's shoulder.

"The bedroom" She cried even more as Gabriella carried her up the stairs to their bedroom.

Gabriella gasped in shock as she saw her husband lying on their bed, the sheets were red with his blood.

"Go downstairs sweetie" Gabriella commanded as she rushed to her husbands side.

Gabriella wiped her tears away before dialling 999, but she failed to get a connection. She rolled Troy over and noticed he was breathing.

"Troy?" She asked softly as he opened his eyes.

"Never forget how much I loved you" He said weakly before closing his eyes, his breathing stopped completely.

"TROY" Gabriella screamed as she clutched his hand, never wanting to let go.

"TROY" Gabriella screamed as she woke up, noticing Troy sat up looking down at her.

"Baby are you okay?" He asked stroking her hair softly.

"I I lost you" She stuttered through tears as he pulled her into a hug, still stroking her hair.

"I'm right here, you're never gonna lose me, it was just a stupid nightmare" He whispered gently.

"You promise?" Her crying stopped.

"I promise" He kissed the top of her head before they both fell back to sleep.

Luckily no one had heard Gabriella's screams so when the morning came everything was back to normal. Once they'd all got ready it was time to leave as Taylor's parents would be back, Sharpay, Zeke, Troy and Gabriella all left together, saying their goodbyes to everyone before leaving.

 **Mama: Sorry Gabs, Mark and I have business meetings, on way to China so won't be back until next Thursday at the earliest. xx**

 **Gabi: Bye mama, have a good time x**

Gabriella's heart broke as she read the text, it was getting ridiculous at how none of her family were ever around. Troy noticed as they were walking to Sharpay's car the change in Gabriella's mood.

"Baby you okay?" He asked concerned.

"Mum and Mark gone to China for at least a week" Gabriella sighed.

"You gonna be alright on your own?"

"I'll be absolutely fine" Gabriella lied, Troy didn't buy it but didn't press on.

Finally they were at Troy's house, both him and Gabriella got out so she could say a proper goodbye.

"Bye Shar, bye Zeke" Troy said as he got out.

"I'll be back in a sec"

"See you tomorrow" Gabriella said before pulling Troy into a deep kiss.

"You know, after seeing you with Melissa has made me realise how much I really want kids" Troy whispered before walking into his apartment block, leaving Gabriella stood in shock. She cooly made her way back to her car before she whispered to herself still amazed "He wants kids". Her whole day had completely turned around.

Once Gabriella was home she changed into a pair of pyjamas and poured herself a cup of tea not long before she heard a knock on her door, she placed her tea on the stand by the door before opening it to see Troy.

"Troy what are you doing here?" She asked smiling in surprise.

"I know how lonely a week can be alone, I just wanted to be with you" He said as he held up a bag full of his clothes.

Gabriella pulled him inside before she kissed him gently "You know how much I love you right?"

"You tell me enough" He winked, he took off his jacket and shoes before making his way to her kitchen and pouring himself a drink.

"You didn't have any plans did you?"

"No, I'm just glad you're here"

"It's nice to be here" He replied kissing the top of her head as they sat down.

The whole week had gone perfectly, Gabriella knew as soon as she left school she would definitely love to live with Troy, she'd never been so happy. Finally her mum was back so Troy had to go, she missed him already.

"Hey beautiful" He said as he answered the phone.

"Hey Troy" Gabriella smiled as soon as he answered.

"What's up?"

"I got my exam timetable through!"

"When do you take them?"

"May the 20th"

"Oh so only a month, I go away the week after the 20th"

"Where are you going?" Gabriella asked a little surprised, it would be during school time.

"Kent Mountain Center with the year 8's for a week" Troy sighed.

"Well uhm that's great" Gabriella said feeling kind've upset.

"Its shit I know, but when I get back you only have 2 weeks before you finish school, forever"

"And then we can be together publicly?"

"Yeah" Troy said with a smile.

"Well I gotta start revising so I better go"

"Love you beautiful"

"Love you too, bye" Gabriella said before hanging up and dialling another number

"Hey Shar" Gabriella said as soon as Sharpay answered.

"Hey Gabs"

"We need to go prom shopping tomorrow"

"Definitely what I was thinking, we should go to those extra revision classes, I wanna do well Gabs"

"Can it just be us two? What time are they?"

"Yeah of course, think the later ones are 3 til 5"

"See you tomorrow Shar"

"Bye Gabi"

The next morning Gabriella woke up feeling excited, today was the day she'd pick out her prom dress and she had to make it special. Although she couldn't be seen with Troy at the prom, he'd still be there otherwise she probably wouldn't have gone.

Finally Sharpay had arrived and they'd both gotten over excited about prom shopping.

"Can we go in that shop?" Gabriella asked pointing to a small looking shop on the corner of the road.

"Sure" Sharpay said before they walked in.

Inside it was beautiful, there were millions of beautiful dresses.

"Hey Gabs, does this one look okay?" Sharpay asked holding up a long, hot pink ruffled dress.

"Shar its beautiful!" Gabriella said as she turned around to look, and that's when she noticed the perfect dress for herself.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Finally it was prom day, the day everyone had been waiting for. Well except Gabriella but only because she couldn't really spend much of it with Troy, the only person she wanted to spend it with.

"Gabriellaaaaaaa Louise Montez, get your skinny little ass inside my house right NOW" Sharpay yelled at Gabriella as she pulled up at her house, she scrambled out the car and pulled her suitcase and dress out with her.

"Shar I got delayed in traffic, we still have 5 hours to get ready!" Gabriella moaned.

"Actually we have 4 hours and 47 minutes now you're late"

"Sorry" Gabriella rolled her eyes and made her way up to Sharpay's room.

"Hey Gabs" Everyone sung as Gabriella walked in, they were all waiting around to get their nails done by a beauty specialist from lava springs

"Come sit" Taylor said patting the empty space next to her, Gabriella sat down next to Taylor as they waited for their turn.

"Hey, how come none of us have seen your dress yet except Sharpay?" Taylor asked curiously.

"I wanted it to be a surprise I guess"

"Well I can't wait to see it, I'm so excited for later!"

"I'm not" Gabriella sighed bluntly.

"What's wrong Gabs?" Sharpay asked, as the room went quiet.

"What's the point of me even going to prom, its not as if I'll even get to spend time with Troy there" Gabriella asked quietly.

"We want you there Gabi, that's why you absolutely have to come, we need you there"

"Yeah!" Everyone else agreed with Sharpay, Gabriella smiled she really did have the best friends ever.

"Gabs its your turn now" Jazz called, she had known Gabriella since she was about 5, she'd always loved spending time with their group.

"Hmm what do you think I should have?"

"How about acrylic French manicure?" Jazz suggested.

"Oooh definitely!"

3 and a half hours to prom!

"Shar!" Gabriella called from one of Sharpay's guest bedrooms , finally she'd had her nails done and she'd decided to get ready on her own.

"Yeaah?" Sharpay yelled back.

"What should I do with my hair?"

"Curly and up?" Sharpay suggested.

"Love it, thankss!"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"Don't come in Shar!" Gabriella demanded.

"Its just me" Jazz laughed softly as she walked in.

"Oh, uh sorry"

"Its fine, you want me to do your makeup later?" She asked politely.

"Yes please, its hard to do makeup with these nails on" Gabriella joked.

"I'll be back in an hour, Shar asked me to go pick up some more makeup from the salon and hair products, I'll do your makeup first"

"Kay thanks Jay" Gabriella smiled as Jazz shut the door and left.

Maybe today wasn't going to be so bad.

2 and a half hours to prom!

"I'm back Gabi" Jazz called from outside the bedroom.

"Come in" Gabriella answered.

"Makeup time" Jazz sung, pulling out her makeup case.

"What should I go for?"

"Natural definitely, gotta make you look good for Troy!" Jazz smiled, she was the only one aside from the group that knew about Gabriella and Troy.

Gabriella sat herself down on the bed infront of Jazz as she pulled out some of her makeup.

"Does my hair look okay so far?" Gabriella asked worriedly.

"Gabs, it looks beautiful!"

1 hour to prom!

"Gabs you nearly ready?" Martha called from outside the guest bedroom.

"Almost, just putting my dress on!"

"We have a visitor here for you!"

"Who is it?" Sharpay shouted from her bedroom.

"Troy" Martha replied, Gabriella's heart sped up.

"Noo he can't see her until prom!"

"Can I at least stand outside here and talk to her?" Troy asked walking up the stairs.

"Troy!" Gabriella squealed as she heard his voice from outside her room.

"Hey baby" Troy said smiling.

"I can't wait to see you later"

"Bet you look beautiful, I wish I could actually take you"

"Me too, but it's fine" Gabriella said with a sigh, it really wasn't fine.

"Just remember, after tonight we can finally be together, publicly"

"I love you so much Troy Alexander Bolton"

"Well I love you too my beautiful princess" Troy said laughing as he heard two very loud aw's from all the girls.

"Hey, I have a plan!" Sharpay squealed as she had a 'lightbulb' moment.

"For what?" Taylor asked, joining the conversation.

"We can get Troy in our prom photo's!"

"How?" Gabriella asked.

"Leave it to me okay?"

"Well, I gotta go now, I'll see you girls later and you my special princess" Troy said walking away, leaving Gabriella with a huge smile on her face.

A few minutes later Gabriella was finally dressed. "I'm ready now girls!"

The girls all gathered in the huge hallway and gasped as Gabriella came out of the bedroom.

"Gabriella, you look absolutely beautiful!" Sharpay clapped as she saw her friend.

Gabriella spun gently, wearing a floor-length crystal white dress with golden jewels on the top part, her shoes were white, toeless fabric high heels and her jewellery was just a silver necklace Troy had given her and her ring. She looked absolutely perfect.

"Gabs you look stunning!" Kelsi exclaimed hugging her friend.

Kelsi was wearing a short, strapless pale yellow dress which suited her perfectly, her hair was in a perfect bun and her makeup was completely natural.

"So do you Kels, Ryan won't be able to take his eyes off of you!"

All of the girls pulled eachother into huge hugs squealing.

"Shar, you look so perfect!" Gabriella whispered as they hugged.

Sharpay was wearing a floor length pale pink dress with silver jewels on, something that suited her perfectly and her hair half up in curls.

"I hope so, tonight's gonna be a very special night for me and Zeke!"

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"He's gonna propose!"

"How do you know that?"

"I overheard him and Ryan talking a while ago"

"I'm so happy for you" Gabriella gushed as she pulled Sharpay in for another hug.

Next Gabriella hugged Taylor, Taylor was wearing a short, dark purple dress, not a colour she would usually wear but she looked stunning in, her hair was just straight and loose.

Finally Gabriella hugged Martha who was wearing a floor length blue dress which looked amazing on her, her hair was down but curly. Each girl looked completely different but all so beautiful.

"Right, glass of champagne before we go and our guys left our corsages here so we'll see them at prom, so its fair on Gabs" Sharpay explained, comforting Gabriella.

They all went downstairs and drank their champagne quickly.

"Right, here's your corsage Martha, and yours Tay, ooh mine, Kelsi here's yours and Gabs here's yours, Troy left a little note for you too" Sharpay said with a smile.

Gabriella read the note:

Gabriella,

I picked out this white corsage for you, not only to match the colour of your dress (Shar told me!) but because to me white symbolises not only purity and happiness because whenever I'm with you, you make me the happiest guy in the world and I know I want to be with you forever and the purity because our love is so pure and perfect I couldn't ask for anything better. But to me white also symbolises protection and peace, something I'll always try to give to you no matter what.

I love you so much Gabriella Montez, don't ever forget that.

Yours, Troy xxxxx

Gabriella felt tears well up in her eyes, Sharpay rushed to her side and grabbed the note, reading it and almost crying herself.

"Here, give me your corsage" Sharpay said softly, Gabriella handed it to Sharpay who placed in gently on Gabriella's wrist gently.

"The limo's here!" Kelsi said excitedly.

"Come on Gabs" Taylor said holding out her hand and helping her up.

They piled into the limo all squealing and cheering.

"Hey driver, can you put this CD on please?" Sharpay asked half drunk and drinking more champagne.

"Sure miss Sharpay" The driver replied taking the CD and putting into the stereo.

Suddenly a very familiar song to the girls came on:

Lets go to the beach, each

Lets go get a wave

They say, what they gonna say

Have a drink, click

Found the bud light

Bad bitches like me,

Is hard to come by

The patron own,

Lets go get it on,

The zone, own yes

I'm in the zone

Is it two, three?

Leave a good tip

I'mma blow all my money and don't give too quick

I'm on the floor, floor

I love to dance

So give me more, more

Til I can't stand

Get on the floor, floor

Like its your last chance

If you want more, more

Then here I am

By now the girls were singing wildly and very out of tune.

Cause starships were meant to fly,

Hands up and touch the sky,

Can't stop cause we're so high,

Lets do this one more time.

"We are here, m'ladies" The very kind driver announced before he helped each of them out of the limo.

"Thank you!" They all said as she hurried out of the limo.

"Enjoy the night, it only comes around once" He said with a smile before disappearing back into his limo and driving away.

The girls took the moment of silence to glance at their prom location: It was in the middle of a huge field, but with a huge tent outside almost taking up half of the field, outside were fairylights, a photography stand and a mini buffet with red carpet rolled out. They made their way over to the tent excitedly, knowing their boyfriends would be waiting inside.

"Fucking hell, look at that Gabriella girl in the doorway, definitely fuckable" A random boy said as Gabriella walked in, Troy and Chad stood together overhearing it all.

"Ah me too mate, you should try it on with her she looks easy" His friend agreed, Troy had heard enough.

"Excuse me gentlemen, do you not have your own dates waiting for you?" Troy asked frowning at them both, the boys just walked off sulkily.

Troy looked up at Gabriella, his breath catching in his throat as they made eye contact. Troy glanced at Chad who seemed to be in awe at Taylor. He grabbed Chad's hand and pulled them over to the group.

"Hi" Troy said, aiming it to Gabriella but everyone replied too.

"Hello" Gabriella replied with a small smile.

"You look perfect" Troy whispered gently in her ear, no one else seemed to notice.

Troy leaned in to kiss Gabriella slowly closing the gap, Sharpay noticed and pulled Gabriella away gently. Troy smiled sheepishly, forgetting they were in a public place, though after tonight they could finally be together publicly.

"Picture time, Bolton I have a plan!" Sharpay exclaimed half drunk, before she pulled them off to the photography booth.

"Sir, do you mind taking a few pictures of us with our favourite teacher, here I have a separate memory card if you don't mind?" Sharpay asked batting her eyelashes at the photographer.

It was very hard to say no to Sharpay, so very hard.

"Sure, everyone get in the picture and say prom!" He said cheesily.

Gabriella stood in the middle in between Troy and Sharpay with Troy's arm around her gently, Sharpay had her arms wrapped around Zeke's neck smiling contently, on the other side of Troy was Chad they'd actually grown very close lately and next to Chad was Taylor, her head rested on his shoulder as if it belonged there, next to her was Kelsi and Ryan who were hugging and on the other side of Zeke was Martha and Kyle who looked just as cute as the others.

"Hey, you mind if I take some of the pictures?" Sharpay asked, again it was very hard to say no to Sharpay.

"I'm gonna take a coffee break for a ten minutes, just be gone before I get back" He replied winking at Sharpay and walking off.

Because the photo screen was faced away from the rest of the prom, they were hidden completely. Troy took this moment of privacy gratefully and pulled Gabriella into a kiss he'd so longed for. Sharpay who'd been watching the whole time managed to capture it perfectly.

"Okay Troyella, your photoshoot first" Sharpay demanded, 'Troyella' was the name the group had come up for them because they were so inseparable.

They posed together some serious poses and others more funny. Each couple took it in turns to have their photo's taken and were gone before the photographer came back.

"I'll send these to everyone later okay?" Sharpay asked slipping the memory card back into her small clutch, they all simply nodded.

After a while of dancing with everyone it was halfway through the night and the group were very very drunk, except Troy who had to be responsible.

"I'd like to make one very last announcement as your head master" Mr Mathers said, silencing the whole room and catching everyone's attention.

"I'm so proud to see you all come this far, and you're results have been incredible, I speak for every teacher in this room when I say that you've all been a pleasure to teach and I'd love to hear about how well you're all doing in the future, it is very upsetting for me to say but I don't know maybe a relief for you when I say I am no longer you're headmaster and a huge congratulations you made it through Secondary!" Mr Mathers finished, everyone in the entire tent erupted in cheers and applauses.

To Gabriella's surprise she saw Troy make his way up to the headmaster, a second later he walked over to the microphone.

"I know I've been here less than a year, but I feel as if I've been so lucky to have met you all, I've really fallen in love with this school and I don't think they'll be a year I'll enjoy as much as I have enjoyed this year, but to finish off I'd like to request a very well known song and I'd like you all to dance with someone, this night is one of the most important nights of your lives and my good buddy Zeke has a few words to say to his very precious girlfriend Sharpay" Troy said before stepping off of the stage as the spotlight moved to Zeke and Sharpay. Zeke got on one knee and held out a beautiful diamond ring.

"Sharpay Evans, I have loved you ever since we were little children, you've always been my bestfriend, but more importantly my soulmate and I couldn't imagine my future without you, so will you Sharpay Evans, marry me?" Zeke asked nervously, aware that all eyes were on him.

"Yes!" She squealed as she pulled him up, he gently placed the ring on her finger and kissed her softly, the whole tent erupted in cheers as the music began to play, everyone around Gabriella began to dance.

I had the time of my life

And I never felt this way before

And I swear this is true

And I owe it all to you

Oh I had the time of my life

And I never felt this way before

And I swear this is true

And I owe it all to you-y-y-y-y-yy-y-y-y

... dirty bit

... dirty bit

Gabriella stood there watching her friends dance around her, she smiled sadly before she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice you have to one to dance with, care to dance with me?" Troy asked smirking and holding his hand out.

"I would love to, Troy" She said accepting his hand as he pulled her close.

"Our future starts now, my soon to be Mrs Bolton" He whispered gently in her ear, Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

"I hope you've stocked up on red bull" Gabriella said smirking seductively.

"Why?" Troy asked raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Because there's a million different things I want to do with you tonight and they all involve a bed" She whispered in his ear, feeling him grow hard against her.

"Do you have the slightest idea what you're doing to me?" He asked groaning.

"I have a vague idea" She said laughing as they continued dancing to the music.

Finally the prom came to an swift end, eventually there were only a handful of people left.

"Hey baaaaaabe" A boy sneaked up on Gabriella said, causing her to jump. It was none other than the asshole Troy loathed.

"Uh hi?" Gabriella asked pulling away as quickly as she could.

"You look so fucking sexy" He moaned looking at her, Troy had noticed how close this boy was, immediately rushing over to Gabriella protectively.

"Er who the fuck are you?" The boy asked as Troy walked over.

"You wanna get out of here?" Troy whispered to Gabriella gently, he steered her away from the very drunk boy and they made their way over to Sharpay and the group, all they heard was a faint "Go fuck yourselves" from the boy and that was the last of him, presumingly he'd probably passed out somewhere.

"We're gonna head off now guys, see you all tomorrow" Gabriella said hugging each of her friends at least twice, Troy just nodded and said bye to them all.

"Let's go you" She commanded to Troy grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the tent.

They got into his car, the ride was silent and Gabriella was quite tipsy, they were just at the turning to Troy's house when they were stopped by traffic lights. Gabriella leaned over to Troy kissing his neck gently, he groaned involuntarily, next she moved her hands down to his rock hard erection, slipping a hand under his trousers.

"Gabi" He warned, his eyes darkening.

"What?" She giggled, knowing full well what she was doing to him. He finally pulled up outside his apartment, unbelting himself quickly and jumping out of the car, he ran round to Gabriella's side and opened the door for her.

"Our future starts here" He said smiling contently, she took his hand and they made their way up to his apartment. And what a beautiful future they would go on to have.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

10 years later...

"GABRIELLA GET YOUR LAZY ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" Sharpay called out to her friend from across the other side of their office, the girls had all found a job at the offices of Cosmopolitan Magazine, Gabriella and Sharpay on fashion, Taylor as an agony aunt and Martha and Kelsi in the music department, it had all turned out pretty well for them.

Gabriella slowly made her way over to Sharpay and Taylor who were sat on the edge of her desk, waiting very impatiently.

"I'm so excited for you Gabi" Taylor said pulling her friend into a huge hug.

"Troy's been waiting all week" Gabriella added with a smile.

"Let us know when you find out straight away okay?!" Sharpay ordered.

"Will do, so where's Kels and Martha, I should probably leave soon" Gabriella said nervously.

"Oh no you don't, not yet!" Kelsi called out, running up to her friend and pulling her into a huge hug.

"Careful Kels, you don't wanna hurt the baby" Martha said laughing.

"Sorry Gabs" Kelsi pouted.

"Anyway Gabs, we just wanted to all wish you luck for later, call us as soon as you find out!" Martha said thrilled for one of her best friends.

"Looks like a certain someone's arrived" Sharpay teased Gabriella as basically every girl in the office had their mouths hanging open at the extremely gorgeous Troy Bolton walking through the office, he dressed in a white v neck tee and loose jeans, different to his usual school suits.

"Hello my beautiful girl, hello ladies" Troy said as he approached his wife and wrapped her into a huge hug, everyone in the office still staring.

"Hi Troy" The girls all chimed in not that he was listening, he was too busy focusing on his wife.

"You ready?" He whispered softly, Gabriella shivered as his breath fanned her skin. All she could do was nod.

"I'll speak to you all later" Gabriella said hugging her friends before she turned back to Troy.

He grabbed her hand and waved at his friends with the other before turning and walking out, his excitement getting bigger and bigger as he took each step. They quickly got into their car and began their journey. As Gabriella sat in the passenger seat she took this time to close her eyes after a very long day of sitting down.

~Flashback - 5 Years ago~

Gabriella smiled to herself as she slipped into the beautiful strapless wedding dress, even she had to admit she looked pretty good. It was only 10 minutes until she'd reunite with Troy again after a night of being apart, a night too long in her opinion.

"Gabi, you look absolutely beautiful!" Sharpay cried as she saw her friend.

"For once, I actually feel it" Gabriella said with a smile. "Everything going okay out there?" She then asked nervously.

"Gabi, everything is fine!"

"And Troy's there?"

"Yes, of course he is!" Sharpay answered as she rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"How long have I got?"

"7 minutes"

"Thanks Shar, thanks for all your help on this" Gabriella said pulling her bestfriend into a gentle hug.

"Hey, that's what maid of honours are for right?"

Before Gabriella could answer her 3 other bestfriends entered the room.

"We just wanted to see you before we all go out" Taylor said smiling.

"You look beautiful Gabs!" Kelsi said.

"So do you all, you were right about the pink for once Shar" Gabriella chuckled teasing her friend.

"Ha ha Gabi, anyways places girls!" Sharpay demanded as the music began playing.

"Love you Gabs!" They all called as they exited the room.

Finally Gabriella's dad entered the dressing room where Gabriella was stood on her own.

"You ready Gabi?" He asked softly as he held out his arm which she took eagerly.

"Definitely" She said with a smile on her face stretching from ear to ear as they walked out and headed to the hall where she was about to get married.

"You look beautiful Gabi" He whispered before they stepped into the hall. The hall was filled with a mixture of white and pink roses, a dark red carpet ran right in the middle perfect for Gabriella to walk down the aisle on.

Guests immediately stood up but not that Gabriella had really noticed though. Her eyes went straight to Troy's who was staring at her the way she'd always dreamed of, his smile getting wider as she got closer and closer.

She'd now made it next to Troy, her dad gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving her with Troy.

"You look perfect" Troy whispered gently to Gabriella.

"Don't look too bad yourself" She teased back whispering.

~End of flashback~

"Brie we're here, wake up" Troy said gently as he shook his wife.

"Mmm" Gabriella replied stretching.

"You ready?" He asked eagerly.

"Of course"

They made their into the building happily, they took a seat in the reception area, their hands entwined.

"Mr and Mrs Bolton?" The receptionist called beckoning Troy and Gabriella over. "Doctor Phillips will see you now."

Gabriella and Troy made their way over to the door marked 'Dr Phillips' and entered.

"Ah you must be Mr and Mrs Bolton" He said warmly.

"Yeah that's us" Troy replied, he couldn't help but smile.

"Please lay down here Mrs Bolton" He said adjusting the seat, Troy held her hand still as she laid down.

"This is gonna be cold" Dr Phillips said laughing slightly.

A few minutes later the picture they'd been waiting for was up. Twins.

"I'm happy to say, both heartbeats seem very strong, congratulations" Dr Phillips said warmly.

"Wait, heartbeats?!" Troy asked in complete shock.

"Yes, a boy and a girl"

Gabriella looked up at Troy's face, all she could see was happiness.

Finally they'd made their way out of the doctors room and back into the car.

"Well that was unexpected, huh?" Troy asked still smiling.

"Definitely" Gabriella answered, kissing his cheek before putting her seatbelt on.

"So names?" He asked curiously.

"Uh I like the name April for a girl" Gabriella replied.

"Me too, and for a boy I was thinking Troy Junior? Troy suggested jokingly.

"Never in a million years"

Gabriella pulled out her phone to text her friends, she didn't really care where she was this time in 10 years, because right now she couldn't have been happier.


End file.
